United States: Practitioners Participate in Thanksgiving Holiday Parade in Pennsylvania

On Saturday, November 19th, the weekend before Thanksgiving, a holiday parade was held in Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania. It is the largest parade in central Pennsylvania. A total of 121 groups participated in the parade, including Falun Gong practitioners' procession, one of the two eye-catching Chinese groups.

Practitioners participated in three parades at Harrisburg during last five years. The theme of the parade this year was "Favorite Holiday Memories". Practitioners' procession started with a large banner worded "Falun Gong" and introduced Dafa to Harrisburg residents. The practitioners also performed waist drumming and fan dancing, which were acclaimed and applauded along the parade path. The performance let Americans enjoy the grace, peace and joyfulness of Chinese traditional culture. A senior couple of Chinese said delightfully to practitioners, "We still remember your impressive waist drum performance two years ago." An American said, "Your performance is the most favourite of my two children."

Though it was a little cold in the morning, people with blanket waited along the parade path. The grand parade attracted hundreds of thousands of people.

For the participation of Chinese groups, Charles A. Schulz, an organiser of the parade said, "Your performance was wonderful! Harrisburg favours diversity." Mayor Reed of Harrisburg appreciated the Chinese groups' participation. He said that the participation of Chinese groups contributed to the success of the parade and they were the most colourful processions in the whole parade. Many people from difference culture and history background are equally treated.