Kite Festival India
Friday 11 January 2019
KITE FESTIVAL INDIA#KITE FESTIVAL GUJARAT PHOTOS#KITE FESTIVAL 2019#UTTARAYAN 2019
KITE FESTIVAL INDIA#KITE FESTIVAL GUJARAT#KITE FESTIVAL 2019#UTTARAYAN 2019
KITE
FESTIVAL INDIA 2019
The festival of Uttarayan is a uniquely
Gujarati phenomenon, when the skies
over most cities of the state fill with kites from before dawn until well after dark.
over most cities of the state fill with kites from before dawn until well after dark.
The festival marks the days in
the Hindu calendar when winter begins turning to
summer,known as Makar
Sankranti or Uttarayan. On what is usually a bright warm
sunny day with brisk
breezes to lift the kites aloft, across the state almost all
normal activity is
shut down and everyone takes to the rooftops and roadways to
fly kites and
compete with their neighbors.
Kites of all shapes and sizes are flown,
and the main competition is to battle
nearby kite-flyers to cut their strings and bring down their kites. For this, people
find their favored kite-makers who prepare strong resilient kite bodies with springy
nearby kite-flyers to cut their strings and bring down their kites. For this, people
find their favored kite-makers who prepare strong resilient kite bodies with springy
bamboo frames and kite-paper
stretched to exactly the right tension. Lastly, the
kites are attached to a spool (or firkin) of manja, special kite-string coated with a
mixture of glue and glass to be as sharp as possible for cutting strings of rival kites.
kites are attached to a spool (or firkin) of manja, special kite-string coated with a
mixture of glue and glass to be as sharp as possible for cutting strings of rival kites.
Production of kites and kite supplies can be seen on the streets of
Ahmedabad beginning in November, to get ready for Uttarayan, and nowhere more so
Ahmedabad beginning in November, to get ready for Uttarayan, and nowhere more so
than in
Patang Bazaar, the special kite market that appears in the old city. For
the week preceding the festival, it is open 24 hours a day for all kite lovers to stock
up for the festivities.
Parents who normally find their children
hard to get out of bed for school will find
them setting the alarm for 5 am on
14th Jan., to get up and start flying kites in the
ideal pre-dawn wind. The
atmosphere is wonderfully festive, as whole families
gather on the rooftop,
special foods like laddu, undhiyu or surti jamun are
prepared for eating over
the course of the day, and friends and neighbors visit each
other for group
kite-flying fun. Often people look out for which of their friends has
the
optimum terrace for kite flying and many will congregate there. This leads to
many social gatherings that would not otherwise occur, as one person’s
brother’s
friends meet their classmate’s cousins, because they have all
gathered on the
rooftop of the same mutual friend. People often find themselves
marking time
by uttarayan: “I met you three uttarayan ago, right?” is a not
uncommon phrase.
At night, kite fighters send up bright white kites to be seen
in the darkness, and
skilled flyers will send aloft their tukkals with strings
of brightly lit lanterns in a
long line leading back down to the rooftop. From
early morning to late at night,
uttarayan provides lots of fun and beautiful
sights to remember for a long time.
Since 1989, the city of Ahmedabad has
hosted the International Kite Festival
as part of the official celebration of
uttarayan, bringing master kite makers and
flyers from all over the world to
demonstrate their unique creations and wow
the crowds with highly unusual
kites. In past years, master kite makers from
Malaysia have brought their
wau-balang kites, llayang-llayanghave come from
Indonesia, kite innovators from
the USA have arrived with giant banner kites,
and Japanese rokkaku fighting
kites have shared the skies with Italian sculptural
kites, Chinese flying
dragons, and the latest high-tech modern wonders. A
master kite maker and
famous kite flyer Rasulbhai Rahimbhai of Ahmedabad trains
of up to 500 kites on
a single string have come to be a classic attraction.
S:www.ikf.gujarattourism.com
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KITE FESTIVAL INDIA#KITE FESTIVAL GUJARAT PHOTOS#KITE FESTIVAL 2019#UTTARAYAN 2019
UTTARAYAN PHOTOS 2019
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UTTARAYAN PHOTOS 2019
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KITE FESTIVAL INDIA 2019 The festival of Uttarayan is a uniquely Gujarati phenomenon, when th...