High as a kite
Kite flying is a simple and captivating hobby which has a long standing tradition in Vietnam.
In Vietnam kite flying has been a traditional pastime for farmers since feudal times. After toiling in the fields, the farmers would spend time with their kids by making then flying kites. There was a clear symbolism to the act of kite flying. When the farmers’ let the kites into the air, they dreamed of favourable weather for their crops and a brighter future for their children.
Today Vietnamese still show a keen and widespread interest in kites. People living in the city may not be farmers, but they still need to relax and spend time with their kids. Today in the big city flying a kite is a form of escapism – as the kite floats high into the sky your eyes are diverted from the urban jungle.
“I take my son kite-flying when he has been studying too much,” says Do Huy Son, a 38-year old man from Dong Anh district in Hanoi, looking at his nine-year old son flying an enormous kite. “He needs the fresh air.” Kite flying is closely associated with most Southeast Asian nations, such as Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam as well as China.
In Khmer culture monks would fly several kites on the roofs of pagodas as a way of praying for peace and prosperity. If a kite fell down, the monks would perform certain rituals to scare evil spirits away. In Thailand, the kite represented the king’s power and so kite flying was a way to show loyalty to the royal throne as well as to pray for good weather and prosperity.
Kites in Thailand were also considered to be the incarnation of birds, which are believed to help stave off humidity. The custom of flying kites is still performed when the rainy season finishes and farmers need dry weather to harvest their crops and dry produce.
The tradition of kite flying in Vietnam most likely came from China. The image of a boy sitting on a buffalo, playing the flute and flying a kite symbolises the peace and tranquillity of the Vietnamese countryside. The image of the kite can also be found in the stylised images of the Lac birds on excavated bronze drums. “Our village would organise kite flying contests when I was a lad.
Each kite was as big as a bed and fixed with big bamboo flutes and controlled by several people,” says Pham Van Mach, a 72-year old from Hanoi. “The winners would be the one whose kite flew the highest while making the loudest sound.” “We often fixed the rope to a banyan tree branch in the field. Sometimes there would be a strong gust of wind that would break the branch or the rope and the kite would fly across the Red River.” Mach still makes kites. The one he is working on is for his grandson.
“Children now don’t know how to make kites and flutes. They often buy kites from shops. But those kites are all the same size, colour and style because they are mass produced,” says Mach. “I want to teach my grandson to make kites like we did in the old days.” When Mach was a youngster each kite would be made with four or five flutes of all sizes so when the wind whipped through the kite you would hear a chorus of melodious sounds. With a lack of materials around, the kite-makers used whatever they could find.
“We used bad quality paper most of the time because it was not easy to find the good stuff. We would pick up any piece of paper we came across and it,” says Do Van Bich, from Co Dien commune in Hanoi. Children in Hanoi today have less free time and less space for kite-flying. After spending a day studying, plenty of the kids in this day and age sadly run straight to their computers. Dreams are now provided by online games.
Kite flying must seem a rather quaint and wistful form of entertainment in their 21st century eyes. Still, there are people who still fly the flag for kites. Localities throughout provinces such as Ha Tay, Thua Thien- Hue and Quang Nam still organise kite flying contests and festivals. In May of this year, the fourth national kite flying contest was held on Cua Dai beach, near Hoi An.
Hundreds of domestic and foreign tourists flocked to the event with 500 colourful kites mostly from Vietnam and Cambodia. There was a 100m-long dragon kite from a kite club in Ho Chi Minh City, which has made it into the Vietnamese Guinness Book of Records. It is hoped that the contest will develop as an international event attract the participation of kite-fliers from all around the world.
