Falun Dafa practitioners participated at the yearly Castagna Day celebrations at the Fraternity Club in Fairy Meadow (Wollongong) on the 3rd May 2026. The city of Wollongong is a costal city, some 80 kilometres south of Sydney, with a population of 220,000. Famous for its beautiful beaches, weather and relaxed lifestyle.
Castagna Day or Castagna, named after its Italian name for chestnuts, has a proud Italian tradition at the Fraternity Club, stemming back to 1953. It is a celebration of Italian culture, authentic roasted chestnuts, food (including international food), rides for the kids, live entertainment and much more.
Castagna Day also marks the beginning of the Italian nut season. The festival celebrates the chestnut, which was gathered to make bread during world war 2, during the time Italy’s agriculture industry of corn and grain fields were destroyed.
Falun Dafa practitioners provided free origami lotus flower folding for both children and adults alike. The petals of peace is an initiative of extending the hand of friendship to innocent children less fortunate. The petals of peace was an inspiration of a little girl called Fadu.
Fadu and her mother Jane overcame their painful tragedy of losing their father/husband in China, at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party for practicing Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong).
The day saw people and children alike, enjoy a few moments of relaxation, folding an origami lotus flower whilst chatting along with local Falun Dafa practitioners. One girl actually returned the favour and showed local practitioner Paul, how to fold a ‘chatter box’.
The day also saw the very popular Chinese Calligraphy writing. This year however, saw a little twist with the inclusion of local practitioner Han, adding the Korean way of writing peoples names in Korean, making it more special. It is truly a popular attraction and saw many adults and children make requests for Han and Jack, Jack providing the Chinese version.
Falun Dafa practitioners came from Sydney to assist and provide support with exercise demonstration live music. This really created a nice ambient background for passerby and visitors.
As Castagna Day attracts thousands during the day, overall many passerby and onlookers showed interest in Falun Dafa. Some interested in learning the meditation exercises, some interested in the self improvement side (or as Falun Dafa calls it ‘cultivation’) and all were shocked or disgusted in hearing the practice is being persecuted in China.
The early morning saw two ladies (Jenny and Sharon) pop by and say that they have supported Falun Dafa for years and were well aware of the persecution occurring back in China, they happily signed the petition to end the persecution in China.
One lady named Fay, mentioned that communism has never been good for China and still not, it should just allow its people freedoms and not persecute them from their rights.
The event was a great day and practitioners all said they will be looking forward to participating in next years event.
