

In the book, the scars left by the manja while flying the kites are described as trophies by the schoolchildren who receive them. The highlight of the winter is the annual kite-fighting tournament, when boys battle kites by covering the strings in broken glass. Science Math History Social Studies Language Arts Kids Educational Songs. Unfortunately kite flying in Afghanistan was banned by the Taliban. For those who missed out on this great Afghan past time, here is the nuts and bolts of Afghan kite and kite fighting in a nut shell. Kite running has featured in a few books, including The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini. Before the war kite flying was part of Afghans national game. It is played between teams or is also played as an. Sometimes, kite fighting follows an objective of capturing the kite of opponent. The one who is able to have his kite in the air when all else are not due to their lines being cut wins. It can be played between one to many opponents. This has led to a blanket ban on glass-coated strings in Mumbai, issued on December 14, 2016. The main aim of kite fighting is to cut opponent’s line. In particular, it is liable to slit the throats of children participating in the Makar Sankranti festival, where a popular challenge is to cut other kite strings with your own. There have also been incidents with glass-coated kite strings causing injuries or damage where other people, birds, or electricity cables become entangled with the string. They may walk around in the middle of congested towns and cities, and while gazing up may be dangerously unaware of what is happening on the ground in their immediate surroundings, causing injuries and collisions with traffic. Kite runners endanger their lives by running into the path of oncoming traffic and trains without looking down or fall from trees and buildings which they were trying to scale to get at kites that landed on top while gazing up and running after kites. Running after and capturing these kites is often made more difficult when these drifting kites are taken long distances with the wind or fall atop trees, electric poles and houses over compound walls and fences, or in the middle of or across busy roads and railway lines. ĭroves of people of all ages may run after a kite and try to capture it with the help of poles or broken off tree branches with which they try to entangle the loose string trailing with the kite.
History of afghan kite fighting free#
In cities and towns, the bigger and more expensive looking the kite, the more people can usually be seen running after it to try to capture it as their free prize. Typically the custom is that the person who captures a cut kite can keep it. Kite running is the practice of running after these cut kites to try to capture them when they come down. When the loser's kite string is cut, the kite drifts free with the wind until it falls to the ground. The bandaged lip could indicate an injury caused by manja.

Kite runners at the Utarayana Kite Festival in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
