(Clearwisdom.net) A children's festival was arranged during the last weekend in May at the Medieval Park in Oslo, the capital of Norway. The park is a historical memorial, with a relic of the Santa Maria Church and the King's Royal Palace. During this annual weekend activity, children and their parents experience different exciting things such as song and dance, cooking and a lot more. This year, the children could also learn how to fold paper lotus flowers.

Falun Gong practitioners in Oslo got the idea of introducing the "Petals of Peace" (www.petalsofpeace.org) project to Norwegian children when they heard about the children's festival. "Petals of Peace" is a project where children learn to care about other children who are in difficult situations. Many children all over the world are folding paper lotus flower as a symbol of peace and compassion.

Petals of Peace started with the story of little Fadu, a girl who is five years old. She lost her father when she was only eight months old. She used to belong to a happy family in China, but in a short period of time her family was destroyed. First her father was killed by the Chinese authorities because he practiced Falun Gong, a qigong method that follows Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and helps people to improve themselves, both physically and mentally. 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 people what happened to their family in China.

The idea of folding paper lotus flowers was supported by the organizers of the festival and the practitioners set up a stand in a tent. The children who attended the festival showed great interest in folding the paper lotus flowers. Some came with their friends, while others brought their parents with them.

One boy came several times and he learned how to fold lotus flowers very well. One girl and her mother became very joyful after having folded several lotus flower and they said: "Now we know what to do at the weekends".

The children did not only learn how to make the flowers, but they also learned that Falun Gong practitioners follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. When the children left the Falun Dafa stand, they all carried away self made lotus flowers, often in several colors. They also got a bookmark which said: "The World Needs Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance", a flyer and last but not least, good wishes from the practitioners to them and their families.

Originally published in Norwegian at http://no.clearharmony.net/articles/200506/551.html

Source http://clearharmony.net/articles/200506/27006.html