In Japan, washi-paper versions, often depicting scenes from legends and fairy tales, have been flown for good luck since the Edo period. In Singapore and Borneo, Malay fishermen have long trailed lures from kites attached to the sterns of their boats. And yet they have captivated adults and children alike for centuries, serving a range of practical and spiritual functions in cultures around the world.

Even their origin story has seemed uncertain since the 1997 discovery of a prehistoric Indonesian cave painting of what appears to be a floating rhomboid. Despite their ubiquity, though, kites have rarely been the subject of serious study. Listen to The Cheerful Granny // by Myanmar Tales instantly on your tablet, phone or browser - no. вЂўAnchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. The Cheerful Granny in Myanmar Myanmar- This episode is sponsored by And in parts of Bali, villagers construct cotton kites up to 13 feet tall вЂ” shaped like leaves, birds or fish вЂ” that are flown in competitions during the dry season to show gratitude for a successful harvest.

From there, the kite traveled to North America, where it informed two of the defining advancements of the modern age. During the following century, flying kites вЂ” often ones made in arched or pear shapes and crafted from silk with ornamental tails вЂ” became a popular pastime for children in Europe. Less clear is how they arrived in the West вЂ” some sources suggest Marco Polo, who traveled through Asia along the Silk Road in the late 13th century, observed Chinese sailors using wind-carried devices to gauge incoming weather patterns and brought an assortment back to Europe with him вЂ” but tailless kites, modeled on medieval pennon-shaped military banners, appear in English and Dutch drawings from the early 1600s.

вЂњAnd yet no museums have their kites. вЂњThey were obsessive kite fliers,вЂќ says the Seattle-based kite historian and maker Scott Skinner, 68. Starting in 1899, the Wright brothersвЂ™ exhaustive trials with gliders and man-lifting kites helped pave the way for the realization of the first powered airplane in 1903.

вЂњThe idea was to raise kites above the toy level,вЂќ Skinner says, adding that he chose the name Drachen, the German word for вЂњkite,вЂќ because he вЂњwanted something with gravitas, so people would feel compelled to ask about the work and take us seriously.вЂќ Skinner, whose intricate, large-scale patchwork creations marry Japanese kite-making motifs with the longstanding tradition of American quilting and often take the form of birds or fish, is part of a generation of established craftspeople вЂ” which also includes the 71-year-old master Japanese kite maker Mikio Toki, known for his fantastical Edo-style hand-painted designs, and the Chinese American kite artist and Disney animator Tyrus Wong, who died in 2016 and was renowned for his 100-foot-long centipede-shaped kites вЂ” who have inspired a wave of younger artists to pioneer new forms.In Brooklyn, Emily Fischer, 41, the founder of the design studio Haptic Lab, collaborates with Balinese artisans to craft whimsical airborne objects made from colored ripstop nylon and bamboo that she describes as Trojan horses: Fashioned after everything from ghost ships to broad-winged cranes, her kites comment on issues such as gender inequality and the climate crisis. It was in this period that, in 1995, Skinner founded the Drachen Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Seattle that sought to reframe kites as historical art objects through residency programs for young makers and educational workshops. But in the вЂ™90s and early aughts, kite flying experienced a boom in the American West and parts of Europe, due in part to the popularization of kite surfing, and groups of kiters вЂ” who gathered at word-of-mouth meet-ups in windswept places like Maui, Seattle and the French Atlantic coast вЂ” began to take interest in its lore.

In the hands of a willing flier, they give us a way up вЂ” and out.

Myanmar Fairy Tales Story