(Clearwisdom.net) On March 18, the Divine Land Marching Band took part in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Toronto, Canada. Mr. Jack Fern, organizer of the parade, said that the parade this year is different than the previous ones because this year there was a Chinese band—the Divine Land Marching Band, which is really excellent. He also noticed that there were more Asians watching the parade this year.
 The Divine Land Marching Band |
 Spectators like the band. |
More than 80 groups attended the parade. The Divine Land Marching Band, consisting of 160 Falun Gong practitioners, was the only Chinese group. The parade started at 12 from the intersection of Bloor St. and Devonshire Place, passing down Yonge St. and ending at Nathan Philips Square. The parade lasted one and a half hours.
Mr. Dave Devall, the director of the parade, praised the Divine Land Marching Band for its contribution to multi-cultural Toronto. He said that the band brought great beauty to everybody and he hoped that the band would attend more activities like this in the future.
Mr. Jiang, the director of the band, said that all the members of the band are Falun Gong practitioners. They obey the principle of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” in daily life and improved spirits help them to improve their performance.
Mr. Jiang said: “The music expresses ones’ heart. The reason that people feel the Divine Land Marching Band is different is because of the inside harmony of the band members.”
Ms. Wang, who plays saxophone in the band, came to Toronto a year ago. She said: “I cannot help my tears from welling up during the parade. [...] When I saw people applauded for us and danced with our music, I didn’t feel tired at all.”
Brian Horgan and Bridie Murphy, two spectators, said that the performance of the band was wonderful and they hoped that the band would come to the parade every year. “They contributed a lot to the parade today and gave the spectators a very deep impression.”
