United States: Practitioners Bring Traditional Chinese Culture to the Hollywood Christmas Parade

On November 25th, 2007, the Hollywood Christmas Parade was held on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. More than 100 famous movie stars participated in the parade and more than 500,000 spectators attended. The first annual Hollywood Christmas Parade was in 1928. The participants must meet a high standard to qualify. Falun Gong practitioners were invited to the parade, based on their excellent performances in the last two years. They were the only Chinese group in this year's parade.

The banner leading Falun Gong practitioners' procession

The Divine Land Marching Band

The theme of the float was "divine culture"

The waist-drum team

People watching the parade

The parade started on Hollywood Boulevard and then went on to Vine Street. It ended on Sunset Boulevard. The parade went on for a little over three miles. Falun Gong practitioners' procession consisted of the Divine Land Marching Band, waist-drum team, float, traditional Chinese dance team and flag team. They brought pure traditional Chinese culture to the spectators. People warmly welcomed the procession and many of them took photos and video.

Practitioners' float was very eye-catching. A grand lotus flower sat at the head of the float, which was decorated as a big boat. In the lotus flower, there was a large rotating LED television playing the performances of the Divine Performing Arts at the NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular. Behind the lotus flower, Falun Gong practitioners were dressed as a Chinese emperor and gods in Chinese legends. Practitioners played the music from the NTDTV Chinese New Year Gala. The host of the parade said repeatedly: "Beautiful! The float is really beautiful!"

Mr. Lee, the contact person of the local Falun Gong group, expressed that the theme of the float was "divine culture." He said the lotus flower is the symbol of purity and represents Falun Gong practitioners' spirit.