Kite Flying in Brazil

08/24/24 @bepmoht.  Kite flying has been super popular everywhere I've lived in Brazil (Northeast, Minas, North), mostly among preteen and teenage boys, but with some adult men, as well.  Some competitive flyers even use a wire string to cut the strings of other flyers in the air.  Almost all of the kites have been pentagonal, with the point down and flat on top, the larger ones called "papagaios" and the smaller ones called "pipas".  I've almost never seen the losenge-shaped kites that we used to fly in the northeastern US, and never yet seen a box kite.

Now that you mention it, I wish that I knew the history, but I don't.

@abthree

It’s funny you mentioned the box kites. My middle brother was a fan of that design. Much more time to assemble and more difficult to get airborne. I seem to remember they were more expensive too! Probably 35 cents 🤪. Getting the correct tail weight for prevailing conditions was often the challenge.

08/24/24    @abthree
It’s funny you mentioned the box kites. My middle brother was a fan of that design. Much more time to assemble and more difficult to get airborne. I seem to remember they were more expensive too! Probably 35 cents 🤪. Getting the correct tail weight for prevailing conditions was often the challenge.
   

    -@bepmoht

I thought that they were SOOOOOO cool!  🤣

I flew the GAYLA "Bat" design kite as a teenager, like everyone else in my neighbourhood did.

Didn't know kites were cool in Brasil though. In Praia de Pipa near Natal the wind is so strong, it would be an ideal spot to do that. Ahhhhh memories.

Ah, memories! When I was in Santos in 1982 for Música na Praia, kites were all the rage. The wind was perfect on the beach. These were nothing like the flimsy, paper kites I'd seen in the states at that time. The kites were beautifully made out of ripstop cloth with decent dowels, and included string on a piece of wood designed to allow the string to be easily paid out, retrieved and controlled. A glove and sack were included as well. There were all kinds... box kites, deltas, fighting kites, etc. I was so impressed I brought several back and enjoyed them for years. I last used them with my kids around 10 or so years ago on Kite Day in Berkeley. My kids, now adults, may still have them.

Eventually I started seeing kites of similar quality for sale in the US. Now they are ubiquitous.

If you ever see motorcyclists riding around with a chrome rod with a hook on the end sticking up from the handlebars, this is also all about kite-flying.

Apparently some kite-flyers do battle with each other, and try to cut the string of their competitors. The winner is the one still connected when all others have been cut off! To enhance their chances they coat (allegedly) their string in ground glass to make the cutting easier.

The motorcyclists are scared that they may encounter the released kites at around head height, and be decapitated, and so the chrome rod with hook may save their lives by trapping the glass coated string first.

I kid you not...

@Peter Itamaraca I read an article about this just the other day ”kite fighting”.  Apparently it has become a real problem in some areas with calls to ban the practice. It talked about the number of people severly injured by the blades. It also had a photo of a motorcyclist who had his face slashed badly as the wire hit him while he was speeding down a highway.

Cerol is what they call the glass powdered string used to cut the strings of other kite fliers - also called manja in English. It is dangerous and illegal.

Otherwise, thinking of kite flying - now I can't get "Let's Go Fly a Kite," with Dick Van Dyke & The Londoners out of my head:

Ohh Ohh Ohh

Let's go fly a kite, up to the highest height

let's go fly a kite and send it soaring

up, through the atmosphere

up, where the air is clear

Ohh Let's go fly a kite

I love kite flying!

@mberigan

Had to hear it now that you mentioned it 🥳

https://youtu.be/n1cnjuEiVuE?si=Ir4hhQrkySCOASQ8