affair with kite flying shows no sign of coming to Earth By Nicole Williams Smith A sky ablaze with a rainbow of colours is a dream come true for kite lovers.

And with Good Friday only two weeks away, people across the Island are scrambling to get their homemade creations ready for the big day.

Kite guru Al Seymour Jr. said kite flying has been a local tradition for decades and enjoyed its greatest popularity 30 to 40 years ago.

"The 50s and 60s were the greatest time periods for kite flying,'' he said.

"In those days there were kite shops and parish festivals were big events.

"I remember when I was young, we use to make kites out of anything,'' he chuckled. "I used to make a kite out of the front of my exercise book. I would tear the cover off, get two sticks and some string and put a little tail on her and let her go.

"I would fly a kite home from school every day,'' he added. "I don't think any of my exercise books had covers on them!'' Mr. Seymour said that the tradition of flying kites on Good Friday began with a Bermudian Sunday School teacher who wanted to explain Christ's ascension to his students.

The teacher took the students to a hilltop and launched a kite which resembled Jesus Christ.

Once the kite was airborne, the teacher cut the string and let it soar in the wind, presumably up to Heaven.

One look at the sky on Good Friday and you will realise there are plenty of variations in the colour and design of Bermuda kites. Each one is unique with a personality and a story all its own.

Mr. Seymour said the Bermuda Headstick Kite is probably the best known local kite, the one visitors most associate with the Island.

"Its four stick design goes back to the 1800s,'' he said. "The kite is admired in the kite world because it is both sturdy in framework and delicate in its covering and patterns.

"They have been made as small as one inch and as large as 20 feet in length.'' This kite is constructed with four sticks, has an arc and a kaleidoscope of coloured tissue paper., It is the kite that will most likely dominate local skies this Good Friday.

And by making slight variations to the Bermuda Headstick Kite, kite makers can produce dazzling effects like the Roundie and the Moonie.

"The standard four stick design is supplemented to produce round styles,'' Mr. Seymour explained. "The Roundie style uses five sticks so the kite will have eight sides, an octagon shape.

"The Moonie has a rounder shape because it uses six sticks, so it's a decagon shape.'' Another variation in local kite design is the H-method where the sticks, that usually lay across each other, are parallel to each other. The beam stick is laid across the centre of both sticks, to form an H-design.

"The headstick is attached to the centre of the beam stick,'' he added.

"However, this kite needs three nails or tacks to attach the sticks.'' Regardless of their design, the one thing these Bermuda kites have in common is their hummer.

"The hummers add the icing on the cake,'' he pointed out. "They transform a silent Good Friday sky into a pleasant multi-pitched drone heard from one end of the Island to the other.'' According to Mr. Seymour, Somerset kites, also known as The Buzzard, are perhaps the loudest and wildest of all Bermuda kites.

They are constructed with a head stick frame but have a shortened beam stick and brown paper is used instead of colourful tissue paper.

The key to this kite's distinctive sound is its thin brown paper hummer -- the thinner the hummer, the higher the pitch.

A Bermuda kite is truly a work of art and as any artist will tell you, to create a masterpiece requires a great deal of skill, patience and time.

Kite-making is no different warned Mr. Seymour, these deceivingly simple devices require precise measuring and drilling of the sticks and a light hand with the glue and tissue paper.

Mr. Seymour advised novice kite makers, thinking of attempting the age-old tradition of making their own Bermuda kite, to start with a simple Bermuda Boxie kite.

"The easiest kite to make is the Bermuda Boxie,'' Mr. Seymour said."There is no pasting with a Boxie.

"It's a very elementary design made with brown paper and dead fennel sticks, although with all the development in Bermuda, fennel sticks are getting harder to find.

"Dead fennel sticks are grey, the live ones are green,'' he added.

Mr. Seymour said once someone masters this design, (see diagram on how to make a Bermuda Boxie kite above), they should be able to move on to a more challenging design.

SAFE FLYING Safe flying When flying your kite on Good Friday, remember to exercise care and caution.

Here are a few kite-flying safety tips: Fly your kite only on bright, sunny days. If the ground is damp, water can get on the kite string and it might conduct electricity; fly kites in wide open spaces like a park or beach, away from power lines; and if your kite gets caught in a power line, do not pull on the string or the kite tail, call BELCO to come and remove the kite from the wires.

Kite a sight! Flying kites on Good Friday is a long standing Bermuda tradition and kite guru Al Seymour Jr. advises anyone making their first Bermuda kite to start out with the simple Bermuda Boxie Kite (see diagram below). Once they have mastered this simple design they can move on to bigger and more beautiful things like this elaborate kite (at left), based on the Bermuda Headstick design.