Celebrating our Kite Flying Heritage

Celebrating our Kite Flying Heritage

Making and flying your own traditional Chinese or Māori kite is just one of many things on offer at this month’s free Taniwha and Dragon Festival at Ōrākei Marae.

Whether they were used for military intelligence, heavenly insight from the Gods or to catch schools of fish: Kites have flown in skies above China and the Pacific for thousands of years. This shared exploit is one of the many bonds that will be celebrated at what will be the world’s first Māori – Chinese Festival.

“Kite flying is in our blood and our heritage and we really hope Aucklanders will come along to share the fun,” says Bevan Chuang, Ethnic Peoples Advisory Panel member who is also on theTaniwha and Dragon organising committee.
“The festival is the first of its kind ever: we invite everyone to be a part of history and have a great time as well!”

In recent weeks Chinese and Māori kite experts have been making kites with students in some Auckland schools. Festival goers will also get the chance to make and fly their own kites during the day. With a Māori welcome set for 9am, the festival is due to kick off around 10am.

“Māori traditionally flew kites to symbolise Matariki or Māori New Year (Pleiades), in a way the kite was seen as a sacred thread connecting heaven and earth,” says John Postlethwaite, Taniwha & Dragon Organising Committee
“From our ancestors who left Asia millennia ago to settle a third of the surface of the planet we have a legacy of eternal ties that can be found in our language, culture, people – and our icons like kites or manu aute,” said Māori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples.

The first known kites were flown in China nearly 3000-years ago, in subsequent years spreading throughout the Asia Pacific region including Aotearoa New Zealand. For Māori the art of kite making and flying played a huge role in Māori life in ancient times, with the God Rehua referred to as the ancestor of Kites.

ENDS

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