(Clearwisdom.net) St. Patrick's Day Parades are held in many big cities in North America each year. Originally a holiday for Irish immigrants in North America, St. Patrick's Day has become a festive occasion for people of all backgrounds. Falun Gong practitioners were invited for the third year to participate in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Washington DC. The Falun Gong parade entry was bigger and better this year, with the addition of the Celestial Band, the recently established marching band. This was the first appearance for the Celestial Band in Washington DC. The sound of drums and trumpets reverberated along the entire Constitution Ave. It was an impressive sight.

Enthusiastic audience

"Celestial Band" marching band

Enthusiastic audience

"Celestial Band" marching band

"Celestial Band" marching band

"Celestial Band" marching band

The parade was held at noon on March 12, 2006, along Constitution Ave. in Washington, DC. Over 100 groups participated in the parade, featuring floats, marching bands, Irish traditional dance and all kinds of performances. The entire parade was festooned with green decorations--traditional color for the Irish people. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the sides of Constitution Ave. to watch the parade.

Falun Gong practitioners' contingent

Celestial maidens' dance

Float

The Falun Gong entry was in the second half of the parade. Three women in white holding a green banner reading "Falun Dafa-Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" in both Chinese and English led the Falun Gong contingent. The 200-strong member Celestial Band followed. There were eight columns in the band, traversing the entire Constitution Ave. It was the biggest marching band in the parade. Behind the marching band was a beautifully decorated float where eight practitioners of different nationalities demonstrated the exercises. There were also six "celestial maidens" in traditional Tang Dynasty costumes gracefully dancing on both sides of the float.

Celestial Band makes its first appearance in Washington DC

The Celestial Band played, "Falun Dafa is Great," "America the Beautiful" and other compositions, to endless applause and acclaim from spectators along the parade route. Many spectators clapped with the rhythm of music. This was the first appearance the Celestial Band has made in the US capital, following performances in New York and Los Angeles. According to one of the directors of the band, former cellist at Central Philharmonic Orchestra of China, Mr. Chen Rutang, the band's performance has become better and better, more and more orderly and more and more powerful.

A teacher named Kate Buser from Washington DC said, "It's really fantastic, I feel the 'America the Beautiful' they played was terrific."

Patrolman Brown from the DC Police Department said, "Falun Gong's band is very good. Their band lines up neatly." When told that the band was just set up and had practiced for only a few months, he was amazed.

Lawyer Harold O'Brian from New Jersey and dean of school affairs Joann Pierie from Pennsylvania said that they had never seen such a large marching band and they had never heard about Falun Gong, either, but they felt Falun Gong practitioners' marching band was wonderful.

Miraculous marching band

Mr. Chen Rutang introduced that the band has military drums, cymbals, clarinets, flutes, piccolos, saxophones, trumpets, bass trumpets, tenor horns, tubas, French horns, trombones, sousaphones and more. The youngest band member is only 10 years old, while the oldest are in their late 50s. The band is mostly Chinese, but with many westerners, too. Falun Gong practitioners come from various trades and occupations, including doctors, professors, company executives, actuaries, computer engineers, reporters, university students, middle-school students, housewives and so on. Mr. Chen said that the Celestial Band displays Falun Gong practitioners' demeanor, and manifests the wonders of Falun Dafa.

Famous Chinese tenor Guan Guimin participated in the Celestial Band performance. He said that it took the Celestial Band just over two months from start to its first performance. The members of the band are all Falun Gong practitioners. Most of them are amateurs. They had never touched musical instruments before, and couldn't even read music. They only practiced on weekends. Generally speaking, such a large band requires six months to one year to set up. He said, "The band was established in over two months, and able to give public performances, and play so well, it is really a miracle."

The Celestial Band is the largest band composed of mainly overseas Chinese in the world.

Heralding Spring's arrival

The weather was fine, with a pleasant gentle breeze. The temperature reached as high 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Green could be seen everywhere in the parade, giving people a breath of spring.

After the parade, at the invitation of the Epoch Times, the Celestial Band performed two musical pieces at a rally supporting the nine million people who have quit the CCP. The rally was held in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Mr. Chen Rutang said, "As a Falun Gong practitioner, I'm pleased to see that nine million people have withdrawn from the CCP and its affiliated organizations, and more and more Chinese people have seen through the evil nature of the CCP and are awakening. The resignation from the CCP is a big matter for everyone to save themselves at a critical moment. Only putting an end to the tyranny, respecting beliefs and freedom, improving people's moral standards, can the Chinese nation truly stand among the world's people, this is our aspiration. Participating in this rally, is also sending out a strongest voice to the Chinese people--Heaven will eliminate the CCP, quit the CCP to save yourself, and be quick to wake up. I hope our bugle calls can convey such a message."

Sacred holiday

St. Patrick's Day was originally established to commemorate St. Patrick, who introduced Christianity to Ireland. In the 5^th century, St. Patrick spent nearly 30 years traveling throughout Ireland to spread Jesus' gospel. During that time, he established most of the Catholic churches and monasteries across the country. It is said that St Patrick once displayed divine power to drive all the snakes out of Ireland. Today, it's rare to find snakes in all of Ireland. As time passed by, St. Patrick's Day became a traditional holiday for Irish immigrants in North America to display their nation's culture.

Dr. Lai Shantao teaching at American Catholic University said, "Falun Dafa has widely spread to over 70 countries around the world, and is popular and well-received by people from all nationalities. The exercise demonstration on today's float was mainly performed by Western Falun Gong practitioners."

Dr. Lai continued, "With further spread of Falun Dafa in the world, in near future, there will be one day when all people with all nationalities in all places of the world hold parades to celebrate Falun Dafa Day."