The Bali Kite Festival is much more than an annual competition; it is a seasonal religious event intended to pass on messages to the Gods, to invoke the spirits of the skies and to pay homage to Mother Nature to create abundant harvests and crops. The Balinese believe that the humming sounds that the kites make as they fly bring a sense of harmony and fertility to the rice fields below.
At every stage of the kite making process, blessings and rituals are performed by a priest for good fortune in the competition. The whole process of designing, constructing and flying a kite is a real team effort involving whole villages for months at a time. There are three types of Balinese kite: bebean (fish-like shape), janggan (bird or dragon shape) and pecukan (leaf or eye shape). The major colours of traditional Balinese kites are black, red, white and gold/yellow, which represent the incarnations of the Hindu deities. Legend has it that the Hindu God Shiva loved kite-flying and these colours honour his favourite sport.
Each janggan (dragon-style) kite is painstakingly handcrafted from bamboo and colourful cotton cloth and adorned with a unique mask, often complete with a solid gold crown. A janggan can weigh up to 300 kg, span about 3 to 4 metres and measure about 10-metre long. The tail is approximately 200-metre long and 2-metre wide. In total, the flying piece of art can weigh up to 400 kg, requiring at least 10 men to make it fly.
During the 3-day festival, approximately 1,100 kites are flown by over 1,200 participating youths from various banjar (traditional neighbourhood organizations) across the island, eager to show off their masterpiece kites. The kites are judged from the way they climb up to the sky, the sound they make, the way they sway around in the wind and the unity of the group during the flying session.
There is a real carnival atmosphere at the festival as the community shows up with competing gamelan orchestra, guitar-strumming beach boys, banner-waving banjar members, cheap food carts, free flowing beer and everyone dressed to impress in their traditional costumes.
Come and join in the fun! Contact Hotel Tugu Bali at bali[at]tuguhotels[dot]com for more information on this exciting festival.
