United States: Falun Gong Practitioners Invited to Join The Philadelphia New Year's Day Mummers Parade

The New Year's Day Mummers Parade is a Philadelphia tradition that dates back to pre-Colonial times, making it the oldest parade in the United States. Falun Gong practitioners were invited to participate in Philadelphia's parade this year.

The parade is divided into different categories, starts in the early morning and usually lasts well into the night. At the end of the parade route, all of participants perform at the City Hall in front of the judges, as well as hundreds of people in the stands and millions of people watching on television.

This year marked the 102nd annual Mummer's Parade. Approximately 15,000 performers participated. Despite the cold weather, tens of thousands of spectators showed up to watch the day-long event. Falun Dafa practitioners participated in the parade this year for the first time. The Falun Dafa entry was entitled "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance," and accompanied by exquisite Pu Du music, girls dancing dressed in heavenly beauties costumes, a dragon dance and Falun Gong exercise demonstrations. The entry drew warm applause and cheers from the audience. The host introduced Falun Gong to the spectators and mentioned that Falun Gong is practised in over 50 countries, bringing improved mental and physical health to millions of people. Falun Gong practitioners' performance was rich in Eastern characteristics and gave the audience some special surprises. Some people imitated the practitioners' movements. Asian spectators were especially excited and proud to see the practitioners' attractive performance. Many people took photos as mementos using practitioners' colourful costumes as a background.

A parade official had watched Falun Gong practitioners' performance last November at Wilmington, Delaware's Christmas Parade. He was deeply attracted by these performances. He personally invited practitioners to participate in the Philadelphia New Year's Day Mummers Parade.

The parade ended at the Freedom Bell. Philadelphia practitioners attending the parade took a group photo and sent their New Year's greetings to Teacher Li [the founder of Falun Gong].

The success of the activity is the result of many practitioners' mutual efforts. Washington DC practitioners made a large banner proclaiming, "The World Needs Truth Compassion Tolerance." Practitioners who performed the heavenly girl dances had to wear lightweight clothing in temperatures that were below freezing. One student said with a smile, "We have performed at above one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and we have also performed in 30 degree weather. It is not so difficult for a practitioner. Especially when we think that our performance is to show Dafa practitioners' spirits, we forget the cold."

This parade showed the contrast between the widespread support Dafa has received in over 50 countries and the brutal persecution being inflicted on innocent practitioners by Jiang's regime in China.