(Minghui.org) The Duanwu Festival, also know as the Dragon Boat Festival, fell on June 20 this year. Changhua County Falun Gong practitioners celebrated the tradition by participating in a parade in Lukang City, Taiwan.
The Divine Land Marching Band led the Dragon Boat Festival parade in Lukang on June 20, 2015
The most populous city in central Taiwan until the early 20th century, Lukang was recently recognized as one of the Top 10 Small Tourist Towns in Taiwan.
Besides the parade, the day featured a dragon boat race. The Falun Gong contingent included the Divine Land Marching Band, waist drums, and celestial maidens.
Practitioners play the waist drums.
The Divine Land Marching Band, which led the parade, was made up of about 200 practitioners. Thirteen other groups completed the procession.
Mr. Hsu, who works in an optical store, watched the parade with his coworkers. He commended the band. “It's rare to see such a large scale band performance. This is really magnificent, really professional.”
As a local resident, Mr. Hsu's family also came to the celebration. “We have seen the Divine Land Marching Band perform before,” one of them said. “They are always really good.”
Celestial maidens giving out flowers.
Mr. Lin from Taichung was visiting with his family. His daughter was delighted to receive a hand-made paper lotus flower from a practitioner. The flowers were probably one of the most popular gifts during the parade. Ms. Lin was also glad to have her picture taken with the practitioners dressed as celestial maidens.
A frequent traveler, Mr. Lin said he had seen Falun Gong practitioners in community events many times. “I have seen the Divine Land Marching Band and the waist drummers before.” He said he liked them because they looked great and were always uplifting.
Mr. Lin knew that Falun Gong was suppressed in China. “But not until today had I heard about organ harvesting from living practitioners. That is horrible and it must stop,” he said.
