INTERNATIONAL KITE FESTIVAL

The International Kite Festival is always held at Ahmedabad on January 14, to coincide with the festival of Uttarayan or Makar Sankranti. It is a joyous day, with a bright sun, clear skies and breezes strong enough to lift innumerable kites aloft. It is in fact a celebration to mark the end of winter, when the heat of summer is still to come. Kites are flown all over Gujarat, and Ahmedabad and Baroda become cities of kite-flyers, when all other work is forgotten and cares are put aside for the morrow. Special food is eaten, usually in the open field or a park, or in the garden of one’s home. Even for the religious, it is a time to rejoice, for it marks the movement of the sun into the Northern Hemisphere. The gods who are believed to have slumbered for six long months are now awake and the portals of heaven are thrown open! The temples are thronged with visitors and alms are distributed freely.

Kite flying starts at dawn and continues without a pause throughout the day. Friends, neighbours and total strangers' battle one another for supremacy and cries of triumph rend the air when someone cuts the line of a rival. A tremendous variety of kites is seen and the connoisseur can choose precisely what he wants. Experts specially prepare even the lines with which the kites are flown before the great day.

Special mixtures of glue and ground glass cover the lines which are dried and rolled onto reers known as" firkees". So sharp are these lines that, carelessly used, they can cut a finger.

The excitement does not end with nightfall, which is the time for illuminated box kites, often in a series strung on one line, to be launched into the sky. Called "tukkals", they add a touch of splendour to the dark sky. The enthusiasm generated by the festival is such that local kite-flying competitions used to be held in all the major cities. Today, an International Kite Festival is held at Ahmedabad, which draws visitors from all over the world. This gives the people of Ahmedabad the change to see the unusual kites brought by the visitors some of which are truly works of art.

The visitor is naturally curious to learn more about kites, and his curiosity can be satisfied at the Museum, which presents briefly and colourfully, the history of kites. For instance, we leam that in 200 B.C. Huan Thang of China flew a kite at night to overawe the army of the Han dynasty. From 100 B.C. to A.D. 500 kites were used for sending signals and to measure the distance of enemy camps. By A.D. 930, the Japanese mention "Shiroshi", meaning paper bird, for the first time. Between A.D. 960 and 1126, kite flying becomes a popular sport in China. The 9^th day of the 9^th month was a day when kites were flown to banish evil. In Indian literature, kites were mentioned for the first time in " Madhumati" by Manzan, and were called "patang", which is the word still used today.