REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SAMARINDA -- Six countries are participating in a kite festival being held on Corong Beach, Penajam Paser Utara district, East Kalimantan province, on September 1-2, 2015.
"The registered participants are not only from Indonesia but also from abroad," Acting Head of the Culture and Tourism office, Penajam Paser Utara, Alimuddin, stated here on Tuesday.
The foreign participants in the kite festival are from France, the United States, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia, he remarked.
The first day of the kite festival will feature a kite-making workshop and a kite exhibition organized by the Indonesian Kite Creators Association (Perkalin).
"The visitors can get a glimpse of the various types of kites and understand how to make the usual kite, two- and three-dimensional kites as well as a Dragon Train kite and a Rokkaku kite that cost tens of millions of rupiah," Alimuddin noted.
The Rokkaku kite is a traditional six-sided Japanese fighter kite that is traditionally made of bamboo spars and paper.
The kite festival aims to preserve and develop the traditional game of kite flying in Indonesia, Alimuddin added.
The people in Muna, Southeast Sulawesi province, were believed to be the first to fly a kite four thousand years ago.
It is based on the discovery of a cave painting showcasing a pictorial depiction of a kite in the Cave of Sugi Patani located in Liangkobori village.
The prehistoric stone wall painting made using red ocher color ink, a mixture of clay and tree sap, depicts a person flying a kite.
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