Joyful Bali Breezes

The windy season starts in July and continues until September / October here in Bali. Especially along the beaches, and primarily in the afternoon, the breezes are gifts that keep on giving.

If you’re Balinese, it certainly doesn’t mean chilling out at a sandy, overpriced bar. If you have the time, it means grabbing your friends and setting a kite skywards.

On this particular day, a kite festival was taking place at Munggu Beach, just west of Pererenan Beach.

We hit the tail-end of the festival, just as a team was leaving the scene:

They were kind enough to let us take a team photo.

I love the community spirit involved in getting kits afloat: coordination, artistic skill, strength, and best of all, the shared poetry of flight.

Here is a list of kite festivals, as well as more details about kite creation and the traditions of kite flying in Bali.

As I previously wrote, the

Balinese are an island culture, but one of their many unique qualities is that spiritually they look to volcanos (skyward), instead of the sea. It’s not that they don’t like the sea. It’s just that the volcanos represent spiritual elevation and a home for their gods and ancestors.

From this point of view, flying kites is an ideal activity for the people of Bali.

And as a tourist, its an easier way to interact with Balinese culture than attending religious or dance ceremonies. I highly recommend it.

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