When the winds begin to rise over Bali Island, the sky will be decorated with colors that announce the arrival of kite season.
It's a summer activity that brings back joyful memories of childhood to Balinese photographer Putu Sayoga. As a young boy, he'd watch elder kids pull kites through rice fields near his village after harvest season. When the winds didn't come, the boys would whistle loudly, acting out stories of Rare Angon, the name of a character in Balinese epic story respected by kite flyers. According to the legend, his magical flute beckoned (召唤) the winds. Kites that dance in those sudden strong winds are said to help farmers keep harmful insects away from their harvests.
In the early 1970s, foreign visitors began flooding into Bali's white sand beaches and in 1978 the island launched an annual kite festival that quickly grew into a large competition. Three styles of kite take flight at the festival: the long-tailed bird; the fish, perhaps the most popular; and the leaf, considered the toughest to fly because of earlier preparation.
The COVID-19 pandemic put off the kite festival in Bali Island. But in the absence of tourists, Sayoya rediscovered the beauty of kite flying without earlier preparation. One day, Sayoga spotted a colorful gathering overhead. Down a small side road, he found an illegal festival. The police had forced the kite flyers to leave the beach, so they had to remove to a rice field. Sayoga asked if he could film it and they agreed - so long as he focused his camera on the kites and not their faces.
This year, the official kite festival has returned to Bali's beaches, but informal festivals, like the one Sayoga photographed, have also stuck around again. For Sayoga, who had long avoided the overcrowded pre-pandemic festivals, these gatherings have helped him rediscover the entertainment he loved as a child. Now when he goes to see the kites fly, he may intentionally leave his camera at home.
