(Clearwisdom.net) On January 1, 2011, the European Divine Land Marching Band participated in London’s 25th New Year’s Day Parade. The band's performance brought a new enchantment for London’s long-established tradition and celebration.
This New Year’s Day Parade included plenty of colorful floats and over 10,000 performers from over 20 countries. The parade passed through some of London’s major attractions such as Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, No. 10 Downing Street and Parliament Square. It was estimated that the crowd exceeded 500,000.
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European Divine Land Marching Band participates in London’s 2011 New Year’s Day Parade. |
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European Divine Land Marching Band participates in London’s 2011 New Year’s Day Parade. |
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European Divine land Marching Band participates in London’s 2011 New Year’s Day Parade. |
Founded in 2007, the European Divine Land Marching Band often participates in various major festival parades in Europe. On the first day of 2011, the Marching Band with over 70 players appeared in London. They played spirited songs including “Falun Dafa Is Good,”“Delivering Treasures” and “Ode to Joy.”
British citizen Ann, and her new friends, a couple touring in London, Peter and Margaret enjoyed the band's performance.
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Three seniors, Ann, Peter and Margaret enjoyed the performance by the Divine Land Marching Band. |
"We like their costumes. They look beautiful. The music was also a good choice, bringing hope."
"We would like to have more bands like this, and we hope they will come back again."
Brenda is a pensioner living in London. She came to watch the parade with several friends. She said, “This is a great band. I love it! They play very well and the costumes are nice. Yes, it's special."
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The Lucas family, from the US, was delighted by the performance by the Divine Land Marching Band. |
The Lucas family, from the US, was also eager to offer praise to the Divine Land Marching Band. The father said: "Excellent, very good. It brings us lots of joy to have watched this band on New Year’s Day." The mother said: "I also like the costumes." One child added: "The tassels on their hats are unique."
Like every year, this year's London New Year’s Day Parade attracted thousands of spectators. There were also many Chinese faces in the crowd, especially young Chinese students. Many of them said they very happy to see the Divine Land Marching Band in the parade.
One of the Chinese students, Ms. Zhou, from northern China, came from Southampton to watch the parade. She said: "I got up early and came to London from my school in Southampton. This is such a grand parade. It displays many countries’ different cultures. But among them, I noticed that it is only Falun Dafa that has Chinese culture. I was in the audience and saw many foreign tourists who were listening to it with curiosity. I feel this music makes people feel peaceful. I feel it is very good that they can represent a part of Chinese culture."
Ms. Chen is studying education in the UK. She said of the band's performance: "I like it, of course like it. I like the music and the joyousness. The whole atmosphere, just like the Chinese New Year, has the feeling of home. The band allows westerners to have more understanding of our Chinese culture. "
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the London New Year’s Day Parade. It was estimated that about 200 million viewers around the world watched the parade from the TV broadcast.
