New Zealand: Falun Gong Practitioners Participate in Invercargill’s Southland Santa Parade

(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners from New Zealand’s southern-most city of Invercargill took part in the Southland Santa Parade for the first time this year.

Invercargill is the gateway to many tourist attractions in the area, including The Catlin’s, Stewart Island, Fiordland, and Queenstown.

The Santa Parade is one of the city’s largest family events of the year, with thousands of locals turning out to welcome the start of the festive season.

Falun Dafa, a practice of mind and body that originated in China, is practiced around the world. In China, Falun Dafa practitioners have been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July of 1999, when the Party banned the practice.

Three Falun Dafa practitioners demonstrated the standing exercises during the parade, while two others held a banner that read in English and Chinese, “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Falun Dafa is Practiced in 114 Countries Around the World.”

“It was so lovely to be able to share Falun Dafa with the people of Southland, to see so many smiling faces in the crowd, and to see the children and adults waving,” said practitioner Jan.

Practitioners in traditional Chinese dress carried the decorated banner at the front of the Falun Gong group.

The Falun Dafa banner in the parade

Falun Gong practitioners have been offering free meditation classes at the city’s Southern Institute of Technology for two years. The classes run from February to the end of November, one evening per week.

“We’ve had a lot of steady interest in our classes this year, with a good regular turnout. Most are surprised by how much better they feel afterwards, and they keep coming back,” said practitioner Ms. Shakespear.

Practitioners look forward to attending the Christmas festivities again next year.

After the parade at the entrance to Queens Park