The Sport of Kite Fighting
In many countries around the world, especially India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the sport of kite fighting is extremely popular. Once every year a massive tournament takes place from the rooftops of people’s houses where kites are flown. The objective is to use skill and technique to try and cut other kites that are flying and be the sole kite left in the air. The history of the activity is very interesting and people have been flying kites for centuries. It is a very popular pastime that many people take part in all over the world. When not being used to slay other kites flying in the air, kite flying can be a leisure activity that the whole family can take part in.
Kite flying has a history that predates the written word. Over the centuries the art of flying kites became popular all over the world. There are accounts of kites being used in warfare as early as 100 BC to send messages to troops on the battlefield. The ancient Chinese used kites to send messages up to the heavens to communicate with the gods. Even today in China, kites are seen as signs of good fortune and prosperity. India also has a long standing history of kite flying. The first mention of flying kites was in the book Madhumati by the Indian author Manzan. It seems kite flying has a lot of religious significance as well. The Chinese relevance has already been mentioned and in ancient India, kites were flown on a special day that marked the end of winter and it was supposedly the day when the gods opened the heavens and kites could be flown freely.
Kites have played a significant role in warfare and in science over the years. The ancient Chinese used to employ kites as scare tactics against their enemies. Generals would fly a large kite over the enemy territory in an attempt to scare them into surrendering. Kites were also used to drop messages, signals and even weapons to troops fighting in battlefields. Kites were even used to measure enemy distances and so were one of the first spying devices used in warfare. Science has also benefited from kites and one of the best examples that we can find is Benjamin Franklin’s kite experiment in 1752. He was trying to establish that lighting was made up of the same electric matter as that which generated electricity. Without a kite he would not have been able to complete his experiment.
Over the years kite flying and kite fighting has become very popular in many different places around the world. There is a yearly festival of flying kites in India to mark the end of winter. Pakistan has a kite flying and fighting festival every year called Basant. But the practice was banned recently by the high court in the country because of the high number of deaths and injuries that were caused every year. Afghanistan is a country where kite fighting and kite flying is almost a national obsession. Every year a huge tournament takes place that is watched by many thousands of the country’s citizens. Australia and New Zealand have kite flying festivals every year that attract a lot of people from all over the world. Europe too has many festivals that take place year round in many different countries. Even North America has a large number of kite flying festivals as well.
Kite fighting is a special type of kite flying that takes place mostly in the Subcontinent and Afghanistan. The sport is a highly competitive one and requires a lot of skill and mastery of flying and controlling a kite in the air. Each kite is flown by a team of two, one to steer and fly the kite while the other holds onto the spool and feeds the line for the flight. The line that the kite is attached to is usually covered in crushed glass so as to be able to cut the line of the other kite. The kite handlers’ hands are usually covered in cuts at the end of the festival from the crushed glass but no one notices at the time of the fight. This sport was recently made popular by the book, ‘The Kite Runner’. Over the years kite fighting has been attacked from all sides yet has managed to come out unscathed. The Taliban banned kite flying under their rule but once they were removed, the skies were full of kites again.
Kite fighting and flying will continue to mesmerise adults and children for many years to come and the only thing that is left to happen in the activity is for it to become a proper sport with rules, regulations, a proper governing body and a proper tournament every year. Then it will become the mainstream sport that it deserves to be.
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