Falun Gong won the second place award at the Lunen City Multicultural Festival in North Rhine-Westphalia State on May 21, 2016.
![Falun Gong won the second place award at the Lunen City Multicultural Festival.](https://falunau.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/0724376db7811fc5ec251e73838b1917.jpg)
Thirty-six organizations participated in the event, focused on introducing culture and food from around the world. Falun Gong practitioners set up a booth, and also demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises, a traditional cultivation practice from ancient China, on-stage during the event.
Participating Falun Gong practitioners were very happy to share their personal experiences with the visitors.
![Falun Gong booth at Lunen City Multicultural Festival 2016.](https://falunau.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2fa7ad74de83d4ccb124549ff82f54de.jpg)
Sergio, a flute player from Italy, said that he felt that Falun Gong had a magical power that connected to his life faster than he could imagine. He said he read a story about the persecution of Falun Gong in China in German media in February. This was his first exposure to Falun Gong.
The next day, he went to see a doctor for migraine headaches he had been having, and the doctor gave him a flier printed “Falun Gong” on the front. Back at home, while browsing a website about music, he saw the words “Falun Gong” again.
He believed that he must have some relation with Falun Gong, so he found a public practice site and learned more about the practice.
Sergio said, “Falun Gong is what I have been looking for even before I knew it existed. Practicing Falun Gong changed my life for the better.
“I used to be afraid of conflicts between people. Now I can calmly handle the personal issues. Of course, my migraines disappeared, too.”
![Falun Gong practitioners demonstrate the exercises on-stage.](https://falunau.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/43d2a6bdcfdaf3e221c3d7307ce3ae5a.jpg)
Milena, an immigrant from Croatia, returned from New York a few days before the event. She had joined nearly 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners in the celebration of the 24th anniversary of Falun Gong’s public introduction, and participated in a grand parade through Manhattan.
Milena commented, “I can feel the peaceful atmosphere here. People come here to hear more about Falun Gong, and they truly care about it.”
![Falun Gong practitioners demonstrate the exercises on-stage.](https://falunau.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/55b14549555b5425ef1adaae0add99c8.jpg)
After introducing the merits of the practice, practitioners told visitors that a brutal persecution of Falun Gong has continued for more than 16 years in China.
A visiting couple said they knew that China had issues regarding human rights, but were not aware of the forced organ harvesting crimes. They signed a petition to help end the persecution and stop the forced organ harvesting.
When practitioners demonstrated the exercises on the stage, the host introduced the principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” to the audience. He said that practitioners in more than 100 countries followed these principles in their daily lives, and experience positive life changes as a result.
(Clearwisdom)