Kites

Kelantan Kite-Flying (Main Wau)

Kite-flying in Kelantan represents one of the most elaborate traditions of the Malay Peninsula, distinguished by the scale and craftsmanship of its apparatus. While the practice is not confined to the state, Hill (1952) observed that nowhere else in the Federation were kites of such complexity to be found [1, p. 26]. The tradition occupies a prominent place in the post-harvest season of universal merrymaking, when feasts, marriages, and inter-village competitions fill the calendar between the grain harvest and the next planting [1, p. 20].

Construction and Terminology

The complete kite assembly is known as wau, a term derived from the resemblance of its wings to the Arabic letter of that name; the more general Malay word layang-layang is not used in this context [1, p. 26]. The frame consists of thin jointed sections of bamboo covered with cellophane, divided into two principal parts: the wings (sayap) and the tail fin (tandok), joined by a stout midrib (tulang belakang) [1, p. 26]. The wings, shaped as a double convex bow, are usually made of buloh betong, while the tandok is constructed from the tougher buloh duri [1, p. 26]. In the popular wau bulan, the tail fin is concavo-convex and of slightly shorter span than the wings, with its curved ends braced to the wing-tips by thin bamboo struts often wound with gaily coloured paper streamers (jejabu) [1, p. 26]. Bunches of streamers with a long paper tassel (telalai) are attached to the kepala, the thick nose of the kite which projects twelve inches or more forward of the wing line, to act as stabilizers in strong wind [1, p. 26]. The largest kites stand ten feet high with an eight-foot wing span, and in these the backbone may be in two cross-braced sections for additional strength [1, pp. 26–27]. The two components are fixed with rattan slip-knots (tali teraju), and the thin fabric is often covered with painted paper strips, charms, and the conventional patterns of Malay art [1, p. 27].

A device shaped like a violinist’s bow, a piece of split leaf-fibre (daun busar) held under tension between the ends of the bow, is fixed transversely to the back of the kite and produces a loud low-pitched note or harmony of notes when the wind blows across it in flight [1, p. 28].

Types and Competitive Practice

Several distinct types are recognised. The wau bulan is most favoured for height contests, remaining steady in variable wind once well aloft [1, p. 28]. Other forms include the wau puyoh, with projections giving a backward sweep to the wing-tips, and the wau bayan, wau kuching, wau ikan, and wau kikir, mostly used for show purposes [1, p. 28]. A biplanar kite (wau berlaki) holds two wings together by cross-bracing in the manner of a model aircraft [1, p. 28].

Contests in Kelantan are attended with the same keenness as a race meeting in England [1, p. 27]. All villagers assemble at the chosen ground, usually open padi fields, and after an opening speech by the District Officer and a puja (ritual invocation) by the bomor (village elder or ritual specialist), heats are played off between competitors [1, p. 27]. The winner is the man whose kite reaches the greatest vertical height above the ground [1, p. 27]. The string, made of the same thin twine used for fishing nets and sometimes marked in even lengths with coloured thread, may be paid out to a distance exceeding 2,000 feet [1, p. 27]. When several kites fly close together in a distant corner of the sky, the naked eye cannot distinguish the highest; competitors therefore tie their strings to a horizontal bar five feet above the ground, and the judge estimates the length of each string and its angle of inclination to the ground before announcing the winner [1, p. 27]. Hill notes that the judge possesses no knowledge of trigonometry, yet his decision is very rarely questioned [1, p. 27]. The angle of the string to the ground, rather than its length, is of greater height-gaining value, and this depends on the skill of the flier in designing the kite, placing the stabilizers, and attaching the string to make the best use of the prevailing wind [1, p. 27].

A form of contest for two kites has been described in which a section of the string nearest the kite is smeared with powdered glass, the object being to sever the opponent’s string near the head by cutting through it in flight; however, Hill records that nobody of his acquaintance remembered ever having seen this type of contest in Kelantan [1, p. 28].

Research and Documentation

The principal scholarly treatment of Kelantan kite-flying in the Society’s literature is A. H. Hill’s 1952 ethnographic survey, written from direct observation in the immediate post-war period [1]. Hill’s account is notable for its attention to material detail—dimensions, materials, and construction techniques—combined with an assessment of the social context in which the practice is embedded. He situates kite-flying within a broader framework of Kelantanese recreation, arguing that the community invests in its leisure pursuits with the same intensity it brings to agricultural labour [1, p. 20]. The article draws on informant interviews and personal attendance at events, and it compares the Kelantan tradition with earlier colonial-era accounts by Brown, Clifford, and Swettenham, though these earlier writers did not address kites specifically [1, pp. 20–21]. Hill’s observation that the wau tradition is unique in its elaboration within the Federation, and his documentation of the bomor’s ritual role in opening contests, provide a baseline against which subsequent studies of Malay material culture and competitive sport may be measured.

MBRAS Sources

• A.H. Hill (1952). Some Kelantan games and entertainments. JMBRAS 25: 20–34

References

1. A.H. Hill (1952). Some Kelantan games and entertainments JMBRAS 25(1): 20–34.