Sunday 20th April was the day of the Easter Festival in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Practitioners were invited to take part in the First Edinburgh Easter Festival after their great success at the Edinburgh Festival in the summer of 2002, when Falun Dafa practitioners won 1st prize in the Queen Elizabeth Cavalcade for their parade display.

On the morning of the Easter festival, the sky was cloudy and the temperature was rather cold. Many practitioners had traveled from all over the UK to take part in this event. A stall was set up on the main street (Princes St) of Edinburgh, where practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises, gave out leaflets and Chinese Video-CDs and asked the people of Edinburgh to sign a petition to rescue the relatives of UK practitioners imprisoned in China because they practice Falun Gong. The public was also given a delightful treat: traditional Chinese fan dancing performed by female practitioners. Whenever they performed, spectators gathered around on the pavement and gave them enthusiastic applause.


In the afternoon, a large group of practitioners walked through the streets to several different performance venues, handing out leaflets that revealed the true facts about the persecution in China and turning peoples' heads due to the spectacular array of colourful costumes, fans and banners. The sun came out and by the time of the first performance, the practitioners were bathed in glorious sunshine reflecting off their white traditional Chinese costumes and beautiful orange fans. At the first stage, there was a large crowd of spectators. Practitioners stood on the raised stage and held large woven-silk banners with "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" embroidered onto them. In the open arena in front of the stage, the performance consisted of a short demonstration of the Falun Gong exercises accompanied by the traditional Chinese music "Pudu", written by a Dafa practitioner. A Western practitioner gave a short voiceover on the history and benefits of Falun Dafa over a microphone. The sound engineer thanked the practitioner for the group performance, saying she felt more peaceful afterwards and it was the "highlight" of her day. The audience, consisting of people from all over the world including many Chinese people, were happily taking leaflets throughout the performance and gave a warm round of applause. The festival presenter spoke to the audience, thanking the performers for the beautiful display and the informative commentary.

On this high note, the practitioners walked through the streets to the next open-air venue. This was in Princes St Gardens and was larger than the first venue. Whilst waiting for their turn, practitioners were rehearsing the exercises when a young boy joined in followed by another man. Both were eager to learn. Again the practitioners gave a dazzling display of grace and serenity, with the power of Dafa shining through and exuding from the practitioners to an audience of several hundred. There were many Chinese in the audience who were transfixed by the display and there was enthusiastic applause at the end.


To complete the day, two practitioners went to a reception organized by the Edinburgh Easter Festival organization and hosted by the Lord Provost of Edinburgh (Lord Mayor). Each group that had taken part were handed a plaque and were given medals to commemorate the event. When the Falun Dafa practitioners went up to receive their plaque, the announcer praised their performance; they then handed the Lord Provost an exercise demonstration/truth-clarifying VCD. One practitioner said to him that he could look at the exercises and he jokingly replied by doing the arm positions of the Falun Gong meditation. Later on the Lord Provost asked for a photo to be taken of himself with a practitioner. The photographer, from a news agency, was happy to get a leaflet and was interested in learning more about Falun Dafa. It was the perfect end to a successful day, displaying the might and beauty of Dafa.

http://clearharmony.net/articles/200304/11873.html

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Category: Parades & Other Community Events