A Bermuda kite is a

kite A kite is a tethered heavier than air flight, heavier-than-air craft with wing surfaces that react against the air to create Lift (force), lift and Drag (physics), drag forces. A kite consists of wings, tethers and anchors. Kites often have ...

made using traditional geometric designs, are quite colorful, and is an art form as much as a recreational tool. They are traditionally flown in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

only at

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

. The

s are typically hexagonal, though larger examples, particularly, may be octagonal, or have even more sides. They are constructed from flat sticks arrayed like spokes of a wheel, with a nail at the axis. A string passes around the ends of the sticks, marking out the edges, and concentric strings are arranged inside of this, all contributing to the rigidity of the structure. Colored tissue paper is glued into the spaces created between strings and sticks. Using different colors, patterns are created. The kite has a single stick secured at one end to the axis, and rising at a shallow angle from the plane created by the other sticks. This stick, which forms the head of the kite, extends considerably beyond the perimeter of the hexagon. It passes over the midpoint of one side of the hexagon, and a string creates a triangular shape from the corner at one side of the head stick, to its tip, and back to the opposite corner. Strips of paper are folded and glued along this string. A long, cloth strip tail is fitted to the kite, without which it would be unable to fly. Every Good Friday, Bermudians of all ages fly kites, usually of traditional Bermudian type (though plastic, store-bought kites have made inroads), which are flown to symbolize Christ's

resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

. Bermudian kites are very airworthy, holding world records for altitude and duration of flight.

References

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External links

Chello: ''Bermuda Kite History''Mark Carey: ''Bermuda Kite Flying on Good Friday''
Culture of Bermuda Kites {{Bermuda-stub