By the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE), kites were made of silk and bamboo sticks. Mo-tse and his contemporaries used wood to build kites (called mu yuan), while kite makers in the Han Dynasty learned how to make a kite out of paper to build their zhiyuan (which translates to “paper eagles”). Around the same time, China began celebrating a holiday called “The Festival of Ascending on High” (or the “Double Ninth Festival,” since it took place on the ninth day of the ninth month in the lunar calendar), on which people would fly kites.Īs kite-flying developed in China over the centuries, people there experimented with different materials for building them. At least once, he flew a kite over a city wall to measure how far his army would have to tunnel under it. However, by 200 BCE, someone in China had come up with kites, because the Chinese General Han Hsin was using them in his military efforts. The “bird” was made of wood, and Mo-tse “flew” it on its tethered line only once, so there’s some debate over whether Mo-tse really invented the kite. However, many historians believe that the first kite was flown in China.Īccording to written records, a Chinese philosopher named Mo-tse (470–391 BCE) created a bird-shaped kite over a three-year span. Kite flying is a global hobby, and oral histories from Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Hawai’i suggest that people in each place invented the kite. Kites are the oldest known heavier-than-air flying machines. This year, encourage your kids to learn how to make a kite and participate in this classic spring activity! The Age-Old Tradition of Kite Flying That’s likely because when the sun starts to warm the earth in the spring months, the hot air rises, creating windy conditions ideal for kites. Some nations even celebrate spring with colorful festivals––from religious holidays such as Holi (India’s Festival of Colors) to the Flower Parade of the Bollenstreek in Holland to kite-flying extravaganzas in the U.S., Australia, and many other countries. In Japan, the blooming cherry trees signify the changing seasons, while the scent of soon-to-harvest garlic symbolically marks the Persian New Year and the onset of spring. But these signs vary from country to country. After months of chilly winter, it’s no surprise that people everywhere get excited to see the first signs of spring.
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