It's a game fought up in the sky. It’s the string that is the target more than the kite itself. This is how we did it in our plaza in San Vicente where we used to fly kites come harvest time, in the months of October and November.
Author prepares the frame of a kite; kids flying kite at harvestime (painting by the author)
At that time there was no nylon or monofilament, so it was the good old cotton thread, “numero viente” we used, which is the standard for kite string then. We would pound broken glass finely and mix it with egg yolk, then coat it on the kite string. When it gets dry the string is like
sandpaper (papel de liha).
Here we go. The opponent’s kite and our kite are flown simultaneously. And when both kites are sufficiently stable in the air, we bring the two kites at striking distance, until the strings get entangled. Now the fight is whose kite falls – or which string breaks. Most often it is the string that spells victory. You can imagine the loser running after his kite across the fields, over fences and making sure no one gets ahead to retrieve it. A loose kite is everybody’s, and ends up to somebody.~
WARNING: Never play this game. It is very dangerous. Games had their own time.
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