Wattle Festival Hurstbridge

​Hurstbridge Wattle Festival is an annual festival held in a small town in the northern Victoria called Hurstbridge. Wattle is the national flower of Australia and the flowering of the wattle means that spring is coming. Falun Dafa held a stall at this festival where practitioners demonstrated the five sets of peaceful exercises including mediation. Some practitioners also did origami craft of folding paper lotus flowers with the children as a gesture of peace and friendship to children less fortunate. Many children in China have become orphans or were sent to live with relatives as their parents were either imprisoned or killed due to their belief in Falun Dafa. Melbourne resident TImothy John Nixon who works in the construction industry and he used to frequently bring his children to the Hurstbridge Wattle Festival. He came on this day to Falun Dafa stall. He told us that he felt a certain presence and a certain energy at our stall and could not help but stop to chat with us. Nixon expressed that the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance" should be principles that all parents should bring their children up with. However although many people want to be truthful, compassionate and be tolerant, it is not easy to do so.  He also said that we should find ways to reduce stress and that "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance" will help him find what he has always been searching for and also help him find a way to reduce stress and help him have better interpersonal relationships. There was beautiful sunny weather at the festival and it held up almost till the end of the festival until 3.45 pm when it started pouring.  Many happy children went home with the beautiful paper lotus flowers that they handmade at the Falun Dafa petals of peace stall.