Sweden: Overwhelming Response at a Festival in Malmo

On a beautiful day in May, Swedish and Danish Dafa practitioners participated in a Cultural Festival in Malmo, Sweden. This event is an example of how, with very little planning, events can still be successful as long as we follow Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance in our actions.

When a Dafa practitioner contacted the organisers of the Cultural Festival at the last minute, the organisers were very happy and enthusiastic about our participation. The Cultural Festival was meant to reflect all cultural aspects of Malmo City, including dance, art, music and performances from many ethnic groups. The festival had two coordinators, one for the venue and one for the performances, and both were very positive towards Dafa. The venue coordinator was particularly happy. He said, "I remember seeing you here every morning when I walk through the park, so harmonious. It's wonderful. Really. I get this sensation of peace and joy each time I pass your practice site. You should know, that here you'll always be welcome."

The performance coordinator said on the phone, "You will fit in perfectly." When we expressed our wish to both display our exercises, perform the Lotus Dance and the Fan Dance and at the same time offer a workshop and an information point, she was very pleased that we could offer so much for her festival. On the evening of the festival, a relative of a practitioner called to say that there had been an interview broadcast on TV where the art coordinator had said, "Well in the morning the weather wasn't very nice, with rain and thick heavy clouds. But the Falun Gong practitioners suggested we all think that the rain is not allowed to ruin our festival and that such thoughts would disperse the clouds. So before the festival started, suddenly all the clouds disappeared, and this wonderful weather and sunshine came out. We definitely have Falun Gong to thank for that."

During the festival a lady from Chile was astonished by the dance performances and the exercise demonstration. After a while she walked up to a practitioner to ask him to teach her the exercises. Two ladies from Iran enjoyed the exercise demonstration and tried to follow. When a practitioner approached them and offered to teach them, they enthusiastically followed the movements. One lady was shy but let her daughters learn the exercises. A practitioner noticed that the mother also wanted to learn and encouraged her to join in, and so she did. Afterwards she was very eager to acquire an exercise tape to learn more as she lived far away in the countryside. Many children also ran up to us and asked to learn the exercises, and we happily showed them.

A young couple that passed by described how they could feel a strong field around our activity area, a field that one would 'enter and exit' as one passed by. They described that the field was one of positive energy and harmony. A man that passed our area of the festival presented himself as a coordinator for another upcoming festival, and said they would be very pleased if we would take part in their festival too. He left his contact details for us to get in touch with him.

The day after the Cultural Festival, when some practitioners were doing their daily exercises in the park, a young couple approached them. They told us that they had seen us at the Cultural Festival the day before, and they expressed that our contribution was incredibly beautiful. They described the field that radiated from practitioners and they seemed very moved. Practitioners gave them some information, and before they left they expressed their wish to learn the Falun Gong exercises and said they would find Zhuan Falun [The main text of Falun Gong] in the library.