Kite festival colors Jakarta skies
Kite festival colors Jakarta skies
Urip Hudiono, Jakarta
A dream-like scene unfolded across an open sky: A yellow goldfish
swam past a rainbow-colored phoenix as a man on a bicycle pedaled
his way through a line-up of cartoon figures, including Winnie
the Pooh and Doraemon.
Meanwhile, a pair of red and green dragons swayed their 50-
meter tails majestically in a midair standoff, and mischievous
bats swooped here and there around a plethora of flowing shapes
and flying colors.
This mosaic of color filled the city sky on Sunday above
Karnaval Beach in Ancol, North Jakarta, created by 102 kite
makers from 15 provinces to greet spectators of the 2004 Jakarta
International Kite Festival.
"Kite makers from Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece,
Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Sweden
participated in the festival," said organizing committee chairman
Tinton Prianggono of the Le Gong Kite Society.
He said Indonesian kite makers could enter their creations in
a competition, while international kite makers only exhibited
their work.
"A panel from Le Gong and the Jakarta Institute of Arts will
judge the kites according to originality, quality and artistic
value," Tinton said. "The panel will also judge the kites'
ability to fly."
The West Java team displayed its goldfish kite and a becak --
pedicab -- kite, while the Southeast Sulawesi team showed a kite
made from broad leaves, which attracted spectators for its
entirely traditional construction.
The Rp 750,000 (US$83) grand prize for the best kite was
awarded to the woodpecker kite from the Yogyakarta team in the
three-dimensional category and the Den Bagus comic figure kite
from Jakarta in the two-dimensional category.
Bejo, a kite maker from Tulungagung, East Java, said the
satisfaction of making and flying their kites was the main
motivation for participating in the festival. He had made a kite
resembling a house and a traditional red-and-white-striped
Madurese shirt kite for the festival.
"The important thing is that our kites can actually fly," he
said.
Tinton said this year's festival was made possible by the kite
makers themselves, despite a slight decrease in participants over
the past few years.
"The location at Karnaval Beach is also ideal, with its wide
space and winds, although we hoped it wasn't too remote so as to
attract many spectators," he said.
The 12th kite festival was held from Friday to Sunday to
commemorate Jakarta's 477th anniversary, and also featured a free
kite-making workshop open to the public.
Sugianto, a resident of Sunter, North Jakarta, who brought his
two sons to the kite festival, said they came to the festival
because it provided an interesting and different kind of
attraction.
"I especially liked the free kite-making workshop, because my
sons could take part in it and learn the history of kites and how
to actually make them," he said.