Festival of Kites

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The Indian festival of Makar Sankranti is devoted to kite fighting in some states. This spring festival is celebrated every January 15, with millions of people flying kites all over northern India. The states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, some part of West Bengal, Rajasthan, Punjab and the cities of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Jaipur, Dhanbad, Varansi and Hyderabad are particularly notable for their kite fighting festivals. Kite flying in Hyderabad starts a month before the official kite flying festival (Sankranthi). The thread used to fly kites in Hyderabad is known as 'Manjaa'. Highly maneuverable single-string paper and bamboo kites are flown from the rooftops while using line friction in an attempt to cut each other's kite lines, either by letting the line loose at high speed or by pulling the line in a fast and repeated manner. In some Indian cities kite flying/fighting is an important part of other celebrations, including Republic Day, Independence Day, Raksha Bandhan, and Janmashtami. An international kite festival is held every year before Uttarayan for three days in Vadodara, Surat and Ahmedabad. These three cities are the main sites where kite flying is observed on 14 and 15 January every year. The 14th known as 'Uttarayan' and 15th known as 'Vasi Uttarayan'. People start flying kites early in the morning and continue until the evening. Playing music to accompany kite-flying is a common sight. The kite is known as 'Patang' in Gujarat and other places in India. People start preparations before 15 days ahead to buy kites and cords for their kites.