Salento Kites: How to Build a Kite for Children
A Salento idiom says: Salentu, lu sule lu mare lu vientu, which translated means Salento the sun the sea and the wind. This caress of nature, as well as bringing refreshment during the long Salento summer, has given rise to a very entertaining practice for young and old; flying kites.
In the dialect of the lower Salento it is called Pumeta, while further north they call it Cumeta, in both cases named after Cometa, or vice versa. Let us see how to build a Salento kite using the ancient system:
How to Build a Salento Kite step-by-step
- First of all we need a square of strong paper of about a metre on a side. Greaseproof paper is widely used because it is hard and brightly coloured, but the kind used to wrap Easter eggs is also good.
- Once we have a nice square, we move on to the construction of the square itself. To make the framework we will use cane, a very light and easy-to-find material. We cut the piece of cane in two, if it is large also in four, and with a strip we form an arch, using simple string.
- The length must touch the two opposite corners. It is very important that it is precise, while the width is about thirty centimetres.
- Having constructed the arch, we place a strip in the remaining corners, in the shape of an arrow. We place it on a plane and glue the four corners.
- Once upon a time, glue made of water and flour was used. Today, vinavil can be used. We pass the glue over strips of paper and fix the four corners by letting them dry well. It is very important that both the bow and the arrow do not move.
- Once everything is secured, we move on to the tying of the rudder. We make two holes in the centre of the kite and tie a piece of string tying the bowstring and string together, taking care to make sure that the knot falls from the back side, with the same string we do the same thing at the upper corner of the arrow the tying will then serve to connect the kite with the hank of string.
- This step is the most important one, the two pieces of string are tied together from the back side and their length will be given by the distance from the centre to the tip of the kite. Each must have the same length, i.e. the piece tied at the tip must reach the centre while the piece tied at the centre must reach the tip.
- The string must form a V lifting the body of the kite off the ground, it must remain straight, if we notice that it hangs to one side, we can balance it by glueing other pieces of paper until it is stable.
- The kite’s body is done, but it still cannot fly. To keep the birds company, it needs a tail.
- Here we can indulge in a bit of whimsy – paper rings glued together to form a chain are very impressive. At the end of the tail, a new weight is placed to make it more stable when there is a strong wind. It can be embellished with garlands glued to the two lower sides, smaller in diameter than the tail; we will call these earrings.
This is how to build a Kite! Now how do you fly a Kite?
Shoulders to the wind, running the string until the Kite takes Altitude and then there you are!
After getting a hundred metres of string from a hardware store, we are ready to fly a kite in the beautiful blue Salento sky. As proof that this art is not yet lost, the Kite Festival is organised every April 25th in Salve on the beautiful beach of Marina di Pescoluse.
How to build a Kite with the ancient method – Photo By QuiSalento
This is where builders from all over Salento compete, animating the clear sky of bizarre shapes and bright colours that hover over the sea, giving us a taste of the idea of freedom and friendship that all peoples should share through the beauty of nature.
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