Kite Flying Around the World (2) – Kite Sculptures & Trivia
September 8th and 9th this year are specially marked days for kite flying enthusiasts in Singapore. NTUC Income (the country’s leading composite insurer) sponsors the annual Kite Festival Singapore – a time for young and old to have some good clean fun.
As Singapore prepares for this weekend’s festival, I thought it would be a great opportunity to do a week’s feature on “Kite Flying Around the World”. Today I share with you Kite sculptures & Trivia.
Some Amazing Kite Sculptures
from Around the World
‘Flying a Kite’
Sculpture by Jarlath Daly
Bettystown, County Meath, Ireland
photo by Patrick Comerford/Image Source
The Kite Flyer
Bronze Figure & Bridge
Sculpture by Marzia Colonna
Parchment Street, Winchester, Hampshire, England
The Kite Flyer is a bronze figure of a young man flying a golden kite on a bridge. The work was commissioned by Winchester City Council and installed in April 2009. The sculpture arcs across Parchment Street at a height of nearly six metres creating a popular new landmark for the city. The street is one of the most significant historical streets in Winchester and clearly visible from the high street.
‘Blustery Day’
A little girl enjoys flying her kite on a Blustery Day.
This is a small sculpture, 9″ tall x 6″ x 4″.
‘Children Flying Kites’
artist not mentioned
‘The Butterfly Kite’
Artist Nic Joly, England
Joly creates miniature sculptures
that narrate his thoughts and observations about life.
that narrate his thoughts and observations about life.
Image Source
World Kite Trivia
- The smallest kite in the world that actually flies is 5mm high
- Some Japanese kites weigh over 2 tons.
- There are 78 rules in kite fighting in Thailand.
- Kite flying was banned in Japan in 1760 because too many people preferred to fly kites than work.
- The Chinese believe that looking at kites high in the sky maintains good eyesight.
- The Chinese name for a kite is Fen Zheng, which means “wind harp”. The name is derived from early Chinese kites which used to carry musical wind instruments.
- Kites were used in the American Civil War to deliver letters and newspapers.
- Benjamin Franklin used a kite to prove that lightning was electricity.
- Large kites were banned in East Germany because of the possibility of man lifting over the Berlin Wall.
- Kites are used for bird scaring, forecasting the weather and frightening evil spirits away.
- Approximately 12 people are killed each year in kiting accidents throughout the world.
- People were flying kites 1,000 years before paper was invented. It is now thought that the first kites flown over 3000 years ago, were made from leaves.
- Kites have been used for centuries for fishing and in Indonesia they still use leaf kites for fishing.
- Kite flying is one of the world’s fastest growing sports and more adults in the world fly kites than children.
- Kite flying is popular in most countries except for one or two for example -Iceland and Russia.
- You do not need wind to fly a kite.
- Each year on the second Sunday of October kite flyers in nearly every country of the World unite and fly a kite to celebrate “ONE SKY ONE WORLD”.
- Kites have been used for thousands of years to lift offerings and give thanks to the Gods for good harvests, fertility, weather and prosperity.
- There are over 50 million kites sold in the USA every year.
- In the Orient, kites are given to someone to bring them happiness, good luck, prosperity and cure illness.
“You can’t fly a kite unless you go against the wind
and have a weight to keep it from turning a somersault.
The same with man. No man will succeed
unless he is ready to face and overcome difficulties
and is prepared to assume responsibilities.”
American religious leader & influential public speaker
(1873–1962)
DAILY DOSE OF ART 
Recent Comments