(Clearwisdom.net) A children's festival was held on the last weekend in May at the Medieval Park in the Capital of Norway. The park is historical, with the ruins of the Maria Church and the King's royal palace. During this weekend, children and their parents could, for the second year in a row, experience different exciting events - song and dance, making their own bun, magical chemistry world and a lot more. This year though, the children could also learn how to make lotus flowers of colored paper.

Falun Gong practitioners in Oslo got the idea of introducing the "Petals of Peace" project to Norwegian children, when they learned about the children's festival. "Petals of Peace" is a project where children learn to care about other children who are in difficult situations, and many children in many countries are folding paper lotus flowers as a symbol of peace and compassion.

This started with the story of little Fadu, a girl who is now five years old. She lost her father when she only was eight months old. She used to have a large happy family in China, but after a short period of time her family was destroyed. First her father was killed by the Chinese government because he practiced Falun Gong and followed the principles of Truthfulness - Compassion - Forbearance. After her father was killed, her aunt was arrested and her grandfather died of unbearable grief. Fadu and her mother have traveled to many countries around the world to tell about the persecution in China.

Many children fold paper lotus flower as a symbol of peace and compassion

The organizer of the festival supported the idea, and the practitioners were given a booth in a tent

The children who attended the festival showed great interest in folding paper lotus flowers. Some came with their friends, while others brought their parents with them. One boy came several times, and he carefully learned how to fold lotus flowers. The children did not only learn how to make lotus flowers, but they also learned that Falun Gong practitioners follow the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. In a world full of desires and temptations the practitioners try to return to purity, compassion and human's true nature. One girl and her mother were quite joyful after having folded several lotus flower and they said: "Now we know what to do on the weekends".

When the children left the Falun Dafa practitioners' booth, they all carried self-made lotus flowers. Some of them not only carried one, but several flowers in several colors. Practitioners also gave each of them a bookmark with words: "The world needs Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance", a flyer and last but not least, good wishes from the practitioners to them and their families.

Source: http://no.clearharmony.net/articles/200506/551.html