International Kite Festival (Uttarayan) : Festival of The Month at Sabarmati River

International Kite Festival is a festival which every person whether young, adult or old eagerly waits for whole the year is called as Makar Sakranti or can also be called as Uttarayan is celebrated on 14th of January in Ahmedabad. It is sign of entrance of summer season and farmers welcome the coming harvest season.

On this day, rooftops can be spotted with families, friends and neighbors. They all gathers and enjoys kite flying. Kites with different design like box kites, high-speed sport kites, windsocks and spinsocks, hand-painted artistic kites and many more are flown in the sky.

Suggested Holidays Packages from Ahmedabad in January

From 8th to 14th of January varieties of kites can be spotted in the sky like single string kite or group of kites are flown by one string only or one big kite is flown by many strings. Terraces are crowded with people, parties are going on loud DJ’s, kite flying competition makes the environment rocking and exciting.

Usually, a child who wakes up late in morning, on this festival he woke up early in the morning just for kite flying. They compete with neighbors and when they get their kites on land, they shout with power but with joy. It is a festival of all religions; every person enjoys it with high spirit. Some people make some funny pictures or write some comedy jokes on the kite before flying. If some other person gets it then he/she will smile after looking that.

Some locals, who reside outside of the state, also try to head to Gujarat on this special occasion. Not only locals but tourists from different states or countries make their attendance on this event. They also make their hand in kite flying. They stops thinking for other work and only enjoys the environment of this festive event.

Kite flying begins at dawn and continues without a pause throughout the day will get you remembering memories for a life time. In night, some kite flying experts fly white colored kites so that they can easily spot them and some people releases beautiful lanterns in the sky.

During the Makar Sakranti week, Patang Bazaar in Ahmedabad opens for 24 hours a day. So that kite lovers can purchase their delighted kites.

History:

It is believed that kites has first arrived in India either through Buddhist pilgrims coming from China in search of sacred texts or Muslim traders coming eastward through Persia.

Participants:

From many generations entire families participate in this festivity. They design different types of beautiful and alluring kites. You can see in Patang Bazaar of Ahmedabad’s old city where Kite makers starts preparing for this event since November.

Participants from Australia, France, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, the UK, the USA and Vietnam and many more covers the whole Sabarmati riverfront.

Kite Flyers:

In few years, kite maker masters from different countries brought different type of kites like Malaysia brought their wau-balang kites, the Americans brought giant banner kites, Indonesia their llayang-llayang, the Italians with their sculptural kites, the Japanese with their rokkaku fighting kites, and the Chinese their flying dragons.

Rasulbhai Rahimbhai (master kite-maker and flyer) who flies a train of up to 500 kites on a single string it is a sign of their brilliant skills.

Food:

Women prepare some special cuisines like laddoos, mithi phini, surati jamun, jalebi and many more delicious items. Their view only can get water in your mouth. You can’t stop yourself from getting one piece of it.

Manjha:

Manjha is a thread which is used to which is used for flying the kites. It is prepared with the help of glue and glass to make it tough for cut down the competing kites. It is made by some specific communities. Each color stands for a specific community.

Places:

Uttarayan is celebrated in various cities of Gujarat namely- Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Nadiad, Palanpur, Valsad, Gandhidham, Surat, Pavagadh.

Date:

Uttarayan is celebrated with joy and happiness every year on 14th of January. In North India, it is known as Makar Sakranti and in Tamil Nadu it is celebrated as Pongal which continues till next day.

Maybe you have seen Kite festival in many states but the way of Gujarat for celebrating this event will get you beautiful unforgettable memories.

If you are free and nothing to do, then move head to Sabarmati River.