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Where they came from... It is not certain as to where the first kites came from, but it is said that they were first known to the people of the South Sea Islands. They used it to fish, attaching bait to the tail of the kite and a web to catch the fish. Even today, some natives of the Soloman Islands in the Pacific Ocean use kites as fishing aid. The Maori are a people who lived in what is now known as New Zealand. Their word for bird is ‘manu’ and it is the shape of a bird that they made their kites. It was believed that birds could carry messages between humans and gods. Sometimes, the kites represented the gods themselves. The Maori god Rehua is depicted as a bird, and was thought to be the ancestor of all kites. As kite flying was considered a sacred ritual, it was often accompanied by a type of chant called the turu manu. China is
another widely accepted place as the birth-place of kites. One story
is of a Chinese general, Huan Both the Chinese and the Japanese learned to use kites for raising soldiers into the air as spies of snipers. Some old Japanese and Chinese prints show warriors flying over their enemies’ territory. There is also a story from Japan about a famous robber named Kakinoki Kinsuke, who was supposed to have used a person-lifting kite to raise himself up to the roof of a castle where the were statues of dolphins made of gold. He was able to steal some of the scales from the dolphins and hide them. He did not escape the authorities, though, and came to a rather fatal end by execution. As time went on, kites were incorporated into local customs in Asia. In Korea, it is a tradition to write the names and birth dates of male children on the kites and then to fly them. The line is then cut to ensure a good year by taking all the bad spirits with it. In Thailand, each monarch had his or her own kite which was flown continuously during the winter months by imperial monks and priests. They were also flown during the monsoon season by the people of Thailand to send their prayers to the gods. In Japan, windsocks are used in the shape of a carp, a symbol of strength of will and fortitude. These windsocks are flown on May 5th, Children’s Day, as an inspiration to the children. A few world records about kites Longest : Michael Trouiller and a team of helpers at Nimes, France, flew a kite which was 1034.45m (3394 ft) in length on Nov 18, 1990. Largest : A 553m (5952 ft) kite was flown by a Dutch team on the beach at SCHEVENINGEN, Netherlands on August 8, 1981. Highest : The classic record height of 9740m (31995 ft) was reached by a train of 8 kites over Lindenburg, Germany on August 1, 1919. Altitude record for single kite is 3801m(12471 ft) flown by Henry Helm Claton and A.E.Sweetland at the Bluehill weather station, Milton, Massachusetts, USA on Feb 28, 1898. Longest Tail : A kite tail 5,560 ft in length and 18 in wide was flown by Joseph Valenti (of Pennysylvania, USA) from a Sutton Flow form Kite at FLorence, Oregon, USA on Sept.4, 1982. The tail was made of ripstop nylon and the kite had an area of aprroximately 250 sq ft. After the first flight the ripstop was split down the middle to make a new tail twice as long as the oroginal but only half as wide.
ANUJ SAWANI |
Theng who, in the year 202 BCE,
got the idea for a particular military strategy watching the way his hat
flew from his head. Placing thin pieces of bamboo that hummed and shrieked
in the wind, the General flew a large number of them over an enemy
encampment one night, causing them to believe that they were plagued by
evil spirits out to destroy them, and so, the army ran away.