United States: Falun Gong Practitioners from the Greater New York Metropolitan Area Participate in the Flushing New Year Parade

The last Saturday prior to each Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve has become an established custom for the Asian communities in Flushing, New York to hold a grand New Year Parade. This winter is the coldest in decades. However, this Saturday on January 17, prior to the Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve was the warmest day in the week. The sunshine was brilliant. Falun Gong practitioners in the Greater New York Metropolitan made the day extraordinarily bright and warm.

The Flushing New Year Parade consists of mainly the Chinese community and the South Korean community. Since the Chinese Spring Festival in 1999, it has been the sixth year that Falun Gong practitioners from the Greater New York Metropolitan area participated in the parade. The practitioners had met with interference from the Chinese Consulate in the recent three parades. It also provided us with an opportunity to explain the truth to the public. Every time, it was concluded with Falun Gong practitioners' beautiful performances in the parade. This year, practitioners successfully participated once again.

During the parade, Chinese traditional firecrackers were used to get rid of the old to make way for the new. In the front of the parade was a police military band, and following them were sponsoring organizations' New Year Greetings, and the Taiwan Group was the third in the procession. The Falun Gong contingent was fourth.

The Falun Gong contingent was led by three Western practitioners who held a banner reading "Falun Dafa is good" with red characters on a golden background. Three practitioners wearing Tang Dynasty Costumes cheerfully greeted people lining the street saying "Happy New Year." Following them were golden monkeys holding precious sticks, leaping around, and two practitioners in big-head masks, waving fans, and radiant with smiles. A Traditional Chinese boat performance added a festive atmosphere to the parade.

A drummer group composed of 60 practitioners wore bright golden costumes, with yellow silk scarves on their heads, and red silk scarves around their waists. Drumsticks danced in the air, accompanied by the music "Joyfulness" and "Falun Dafa is good," to send festival happiness to everyone in the streets. They were vigorous and full of energy, and shared their happiness wholeheartedly with the public.

A golden dragon danced back and forth, up and down. Young practitioners sat peacefully in the lotus flowers on the float.

The practitioners from the Greater New York Metropolitan Area delivered their New Year's greetings to people from all walks of life in the communities with a bright appearance and wonderful performances. They hoped to bring their sincere blessing of "Falun Dafa is good" to every one, and wished everyone good luck and happiness in the year of Monkey.