(Clearwisdom.net) On May 12, 2002, over 200 practitioners from the Bay
Area in California held a grand parade to celebrate the 3rd Annual
World Falun Dafa Day in San Francisco. At 8:00 a.m., practitioners gathered at
Fisherman's Wharf to practice the exercises and send forth righteous thoughts.
At 11 a.m., the parade began. From Fisherman's Wharf, the parade moved across
the city to Garden Corner Park and lasted about two hours. After the procession
arrived back at the park, practitioners demonstrated the five sets of exercises
and performed the "Red Silk Dance", the "Colorful Float
Dance" and the "Fan Dance" for the audience. The event concluded
successfully at 4 p.m.
In order to have more people recognize the truth, sacredness and magnificence of Falun Dafa, practitioners from the Bay Area prepared a lot of performances and colorful parade costumes. The parade included ten groups: "Young Practitioners", "Elegant Ladies with Flower Baskets", "Boat Rowing", "Lotus Flower Float", "Fan Dance", "Red Silk Dance", "Colorful Balloons", "Colorful Flags", "Display Boards" and "Exercise Demonstration" groups.
Dressed in traditional Chinese costumes and holding small flower baskets in their hands, the Elegant Ladies passed out "Pu Du" music CDs along the way. Different dances and performances followed. The parade immediately attracted the attention of passersby and residents when it entered the main streets. People applauded and took pictures. Some people didn't want to accept the flyers at first. After watching the parade for a while, they ran after the practitioners to ask for a flyer. Many visitors stopped to take pictures.
One passer-by asked what the festival was for, and another passer-by told him that it was World Falun Dafa Day. Many people were surprised to see that there were so many Falun Dafa practitioners in the San Francisco Bay Area.
When the parade arrived at the park, practitioners performed dances and songs for the audience. Some westerners sang the song "Falun Dafa is good" together. Some other Chinese and western visitors then demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises.
At around noon, a large, colorful ring of light appeared around the sun. Practitioners, visitors and policemen all raised their heads to look. The ring of light followed the parade for nearly an hour.
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