Southeast Asian kites in full bloom
The 2023 International Kite Festival will be held from June 3 to 9, 2023 with many exciting activities, such as kite flying art performances, kite exhibitions and experiences. In particular, as emphasized by the organizers, there will be an artistic kite flying exchange program in the afternoons from June 4 to 8 at Ngo Mon Square and Thuan An Beach. The activity will be attended by international guest kite clubs: Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand; domestic kite clubs: Golden Kite Restaurant Club ( Nam Dinh ), Phoenix Art Kite Club and Sunflower Kite Club (Ho Chi Minh City) and co-hosted by the Hue kite artisans group.
Hue Festival Center (organizer) said that kite flying in Thailand is not just about seeing how high it can fly in the sky, but it is also an ancient sport , regulated by rules, and a heritage that involves everyone from the king to the common people.
Skyline Kite Team is a kite club from Thailand with 20 members operating throughout the land of the Golden Temples, and will represent Thailand in the 2023 International Kite Festival. With experience in using a variety of kite types: indoor (Zero Wind), single-string kites, double-string kites, quadruple-string kites, and sports kites, Skyline Kite Team promises to bring the public and visitors in Hue vivid, modern, and spectacular performances.
The Malaysian Kite Association was established to promote the development, preservation and promotion of kite flying as a traditional art form, recreational activity and cultural heritage in Malaysia; to bring traditional culture in general and traditional Malaysian kites to the international arena.
Coming to the International Kite Festival 2023, traditional Malaysian kites will show off their vibrant colors and sophisticated designs. Wau Bulan kites – Moon kites, Wau Kucing – Cat kites, Wau Jala Budi, Wau Merak,… made from bamboo and paper, the frames are decorated with elaborate carvings and painted on the outside, will be displayed for visitors and residents of the Ancient Capital to enjoy.
Representing Singapore is artist Gadis Widiyati Riyadi, with 30 years of experience in kite making, kite flying, and organizing kite creation camps in many countries around the world. Widiyati has participated in international kite festivals in countries from Asia, Europe, Africa, and this time coming to Vietnam, the Singaporean artist will bring to the ancient capital colorful kites, with diverse styles from modern to traditional.
Elevate the festival
Mr. Huynh Tien Dat, Director of Hue Festival Center, said that for a long time, the kite festival organized within the framework of Hue Festival stopped at the scale of converging domestic kites. With this festival, for the first time, it has expanded to an international scale, with countries in the ASEAN bloc. The international guests are all very famous for kite flying and have represented many countries around the world.
The festival is an opportunity to attract tourists, create a playground and an opportunity for those who love aerial art; an opportunity for local, domestic and international artists to meet, exchange, learn experiences, improve their expertise and introduce their country's cultural identity to the cultures of other countries in the world.
Meritorious artisan Nguyen Dang Hoang said that to make a Hue kite, it must go through many stages, which is the mark of each kite artisan, the secret to creating the difference of each Hue kite. Each kite made is a work of art, a combination of many factors such as experience, architecture, aerodynamics, painting... With their passion and talent, generations of Hue kite artisans have created a huge collection of kites with thousands of different designs in the shape of birds and animals: dragon, unicorn, unicorn, phoenix, peacock, butterfly... Kite flying is a traditional cultural feature, an art that kite players are constantly creating, raising it to a cultural heritage.
“Participating in this kite festival, countries will bring their most typical traditional kites. Therefore, we will use royal kites and many other traditional kites to “compete” in the sky of the ancient capital. We hope to exchange the art of kite flying, effectively preserve the art of kite flying and move towards promoting and spreading the art of kite flying more and more widely in people’s lives,” Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Hoang hopes.
Kite making in Hue has been around for at least 300 years, from a simple pastime in the countryside for children, gradually developed by adults into more complex kites. Finally, the upper class in Hue Imperial City elevated it to the status of “air puppetry”. However, the big challenge today is to preserve the traditional kite, because kite flying is rarely chosen when many other forms of entertainment have been born.
According to Mr. Huynh Tien Dat, each time the festival is held, it is an opportunity for colorful kites to fly in the blue sky. The direction of the province and the organizing committee is to continue to expand the scale, making the kite festival an annual activity, where many types of kites from around the world meet. Thereby, preserving and promoting the art of kite flying is more effective.
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