Showing posts with label kite festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kite festival. Show all posts

January 14 – International Kite Day

Posted on January 14, 2017

Check out the colorful festival that is Uttarayan, or International Kite Day, in the Indian state of Gujarati!

It's not uncommon for kids to set their alarms hours earlier than usual to get outside, flying their kites, before dawn. That's because the wind in the pre-dawn hour is generally ideal for kite flying. 








Some communities take advantage of all the visitors to
have special shows of dancing and music.

So people start flying their kites while it is still dark, and they fly kites all day long, and many of them keep flying them until well after sunset! When it is dark, many people fly bright white kites and/or kites with strings of bright lanterns leading down to the rooftop.



In Gujarati, almost all normal activities are suspended while almost everybody goes to the rooftops or into the roadways to fly kites. People visit one another and eat special foods -- but, again, on terraces or rooftops, while somebody keeps the kites aloft.








The city of Ahmedabad attracts master kite builders who show off special unique kite designs and master kite fliers who impress the crowds with their skills. People come from all over the world, from Malaysia to Indonesia, from China to Japan, from Italy to the United States. 







Rasulbhai Rahimbhai is a master kite builder who strings along hundreds of kites on a single string! Crazy!












Also on this date:










(January 12 to February 24) Magh Mela in India














































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February 14, 2013 - Basant Panchami


This Hindu festival celebrates the coming of spring, the color yellow, and the goddess of knowledge, music, art, and culture. Saraswati is that goddess, and offerings of yellow flowers are often made to her statue or temples. Traditionally, children begin to learn the 50 letters of the Sanskrit alphabet on this day, or learn to write their first words. Students sometimes make offerings of pens or books to Saraswati in hopes that they will do well on their exams. Most schools have special programs on this day.


People wear yellow clothes and eat saffron rice and yellow sweets during Basant Panchami.

In one city in India, today is celebrated with a huge kite festival. 




Kite flying is also very important in Lahore, Pakistan, especially during Basant. However, metal or glass-encrusted string and dangerous kite-fighting practices have resulted in an unacceptable death toll and a governmental ban on all kite sales and kite flying. 

This video and this article explore kite-flying in Pakistan and the kite ban.


Note: By the way, some sources call this festival Vasant Panchami.

Also on this date: