(Clearwisdom.net) May 17 is Norway's National Day and also its Constitution Day. In contrast to many other nations, Norwegians celebrate National Day with a children's parade instead of a military parade. Almost all primary schools participate in the parade with their respective banners, and the Royal Family stand on their castle's balcony to greet the children on parade and the rest of the public. The streets of Oslo are full of people dressed in traditional festive garments or other festive clothes.

People are pleasantly surprised when accepting paper lotus flowers

Still something was different this year, which made a special scene in the main street of Oslo. Some female Falun Dafa practitioners brought with them a basket full of handmade paper lotus flowers. These colorful and beautiful lotus flowers where handed out to children together with a greeting card.

The card told a little story: A twelve year old girl who lives in the neighboring country of Sweden is named Elvelina. She is a young Falun Gong practitioner. This Easter she had a dream that if she makes one thousand lotus flowers, the persecution of Falun Gong in China will stop. After she woke up, she told her friend about the dream and they immediately started to make paper lotus flowers. Their flowers are not like normal paper lotus flowers, as they seem alive. Some of them are decorated with silver, while others have gold straw in the middle. All the flowers bring with them the little girls' good wishes. The card also explained that the lotus flower symbolizes holiness, purity, beauty and peace and all the lotus flowers bring with them a message to the people: "The world needs Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance".

Many children received the lotus flowers with surprised and happy expressions; some asked to get one extra to give to their sister, brother or friend. Many people, old and young, women and men, Norwegians and people from abroad, asked for and received a lotus flower. People carefully read the message on the cards, a woman said, "All people need Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance."

A young Chinese girl also received a lotus flower and a card. She said thanks and moved on but she suddenly turned around looking surprised and asked the practitioner, "Do you know where this came from?" The practitioner explained that it was from people who practice Falun Gong. Since the Chinese girl looked so shocked, the practitioner told her in Chinese "I am a Falun Gong practitioner" and that she has practiced Falun Gong for six years. People all over the world are practicing Falun Gong, only China forbids people to practice it. Even in Hong Kong, people can freely practice Falun Gong. The Chinese girl asked several times if this was true. She was so surprised to find out that Falun Gong is also practiced in Norway.

The 1000 lotus flowers, which were made by Swedish and Norwegian practitioners, quickly disappeared. These lotus flowers, along with a good wish, spread around the streets of Oslo creating a beautiful and decorative sight on Norwegian National Day.

Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200506/26865.html

Originally published in Norwegian at http://no.clearharmony.net/articles/200505/526.html