Kites

As the Easter holiday approaches, across Bermuda people are building kites.

Kite-flying on Good Friday is an integral part of Bermuda's Easter celebrations. The tradition allegedly started when a Sunday school teacher, trying to explain Christ's Ascention to Heaven to his students, launched a kite bearing a likeness of Christ on it. While most people fly shop-bought plastic kites, many still elect to build their own. A traditional Bermuda kite comprises a strung wooden frame, onto which are pasted sheets of brightly coloured tissue paper. The kites often feature circular designs in the centre, long cloth tails, and thin strips of tissue - called 'hummers' due to the noise they make as they vibrate in the wind - down each edge. Psychotic kite-builders include razor-blades on their lines in order to cut the string of other kites they get tangled up with.

Mandy and I build a traditional Bermuda kite a couple of years ago while we were living in London, and flew it on Hampstead Heath on Good Friday. Frankly, building it was a pain in the ass. We didn't have to worry about building or stringing the frame, which Mandy's parents brought over for us in their suitcase, but cutting and gluing the sections of tissue paper was fiddly and time-consuming enough.

Traditional Bermuda kites can be bought too, but at $40 to $90 each they're awfully expensive for something liable to end up in a tree or suffer a frame-crunching plummet to the ground fifteen seconds after being launched skyward. Even if they survive the day, they may not survive storage until next year: cockroaches have a fondness for the glue used to attach the tissue paper.

No, this year it's a plastic kite for us.

Comments

[Eric on 08.04.04 at 19:38]

Sadly the weather looks like it might not hold and will be stormy (rain and gusts).

An additional shame for me since I have friends landing tomorrow afternoon for a long weekend too.

[Graeme Outerbridge on 09.04.04 at 11:14]

Well this is my last post--to Phil and his wonderful Blog--It's time for the Wolf to let others howl!!!Hooorrooo!! I have enjoyed all the ideas and debates and humour..the site has provided---Its time for the wolf to read and to listen to the air rustle though his coat...but remember you never really know just how close the Wolf really Is!!! Time to reflect on the cross in the sky today and think of all the truely great people both women and men that have carried us to today!!!! Howl at the Moon when you see it!! Live with passion and remember life is a rich tapestry to wear--live it well as it sparkles bye!!!^..^

[Lizardfish on 09.04.04 at 23:43]

Shame on you for flying a plastic kite! Making kites is a tradition and a beautiful one at that. We should be learning how to make them with our eyes closed so we can teach your children and keep the tradition alive!

I flew my home made kite on the Belmont Golf Course today, it hummed just lovely and showed up all the other plastic things in the sky :-)

L.

[Jay Pedro on 11.04.04 at 10:05]

Exactly.
Phil had an excellent instructor who even bought him his sticks this year - and proved that they can be made quite quickly, with experience. Come on Phil, get with the program. I expect a better effort next year !