Making my own kite with pointa broom, thread, glue made from flour and water.

Taking the sucker outside, my cousin hold the kite one end, I holding the thread on the other end and start running. Watching the paper monster kite soar high up towards the beautiful blue sky, then my heart sank as the delicate string cut and the kite really flew away. I start run like rass to catch up with it as it just kept going and going and going....

We always made our own kites. The "Passey" tree was only about 100 yards away. We were always looking for "soft board" to make "wood kite". Broom kite did not "sing" too much.

My earliest kite-flying memory. Around 1956. I was not yet 5 years old and my sister was a year younger. Early Easter morning our mother took us to a spot near our home between Uitvlugt Pasture and Casbah. She got someone to raise our kites and she returned home. After a while my sister and I felt hungry and decided to return home for breakfast. At that time it was a burnt-earth street, not yet asphalted, and we got two big burnt bricks and placed them as weights upon the "balla", hoping to resume after breakfast. When we got home empty handed our mother demanded an explanation and then she rushed us back to the spot. Our kites were too strong for the weights and had flown away. But people were honest in those days and someone who had seen us flying our kites went and retrieved them from someone's yard and returned the kites to my mother.

My grandfather would buy my brown paper board kite from a man by Uitvlugt railway line named Booker, he was known to make BB gun,wooden toys and kites during Easter.One year I sneaked out and fly my kite on Easter Saturday, it was windy and the twine burst and the kite went far into a tall coconut tree. That Easter I ended up holding other people"s kite so that they can run and pull, but the day after Easter someone kite burst from the sideline dam and landed in our yard at Uitvlugt Estate compound, for the next few days I was flying a nice star pointed kite. In Guyana Easter was in the air, in the sky, you can close your eyes and listen to the singing engines, it's a beautiful sight.

I can relate the same with most of the post,pointer broom,eatey broom[type of palm tree] excercise book page,brown paper bag,flour paste,gama cherry[Skelly call it pasey]small kite flying with thread oh boy that was fun when i was little.

Teenage years made the real bad big kite out of wood frame and designed to sing hard flied with strong nylon twine,all started about a few weeks before easter,the spot for flying kites was at the sea wall,when you want to cut up some other fliers kite a razor blade is attached to the tails.

I once made 2' kites for all the kids in my and my cousins' neighborhoods. Must have been dozens of kites. It was very satisfying to see the joy and appreciation in their eyes. And I didn't even have good tools to make them. That is my fondest memory of Easter. Other than that, when we were kids, my dad used to take us to Kitty Market on Easter day to buy kites. Most of those were the brown paper kites. Those brown paper kites were serious signing engines.

Used to eat those gamma cherries.  

ksazma posted:

Used to eat those gamma cherries.  

The ripe ones,it does give bound belly.

Django posted:

ksazma posted:

Used to eat those gamma cherries.  

The ripe ones,it does give bound belly.

But they had a sweetish taste. Tempting for a kid.

Kite flying at Easter was also exciting for us at Albion. But it was more exciting to see the big six-foot wood/brown-paper kite, pulled by men.   As kids we always stay our distance, because the men would jokingly tried to tie a kid to the kite's tail.

There was an old Chinese man at Albion, even though razor blades on the kite tails were effective, he used to grind broken glass and mix it with glue, rubbing it on the thick kite thread. He would hang it on the clothes line to dry and it was  important that we don't get our head tangled in it. He would wrap the dry string on a large spool with handles on both sides to wind it. A bunch of kids used to hang out with him, to collect the kites he  cut down. There were some kids crying for their kites, but we always give it back. He only cut down kites he knew.

When I worked with radios on ships, during life boat drills in the ocean, the life boat radio metal antenna string, was taken up in the air with a box kite, that is put together with interlocking aluminum pieces and light orange cloth, that I test from a life boat. It was normal procedure to do the test, but the captain seem to think I do it too often, especially at Easter. The ship would stop at my and other officers request, to the excitement of the crew, who went swimming in the ocean.  In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, when the ship stopped for life boat drills, I  felt like flying an Albion kite.

One Easter, the crew made a  box kite that they flew behind the moving ship. As a joke they tied it on a crew member, but the kite fell in the ocean and was about to pull the crew member overboard, close to the propellers. The ship's cook rushed with a knife and cut the thick string.

The culture of the ship's crew was important. At Easter they made plaid bread with whole eggs inside. The bread  was served broken in large pieces. When an officer receive an egg with their piece of bread, it was  cheered and toasted with wine.         

But like Christmas, I look forward to the special food at Easter. It was the only time our Mom gave us shot of wine. My sisters always twist their nose at it, which was a welcome treat for me and me brothers.  We big man now.

This is hard to write, because of the twelve in our family, only three of us remain. So give your family a big hug, Wishing them a Happy Easter and show your appreciation for their presence, because we don't live forever.      

my father made all the kites for us kids . . . they weren't the most dazzling, but were very sturdy and sang like a rass

for me the key was the balla twine . . . i would research and test the offerings of the particular year and browbeat my parents to get the one i wanted

for the most part, my kites lasted and i didn't cry much

redux posted:

my father made all the kites for us kids . . . they weren't the most dazzling, but were very sturdy and sang like a rass

for me the key was the balla twine . . . i would research and test the offerings of the particular year and browbeat my parents to get the one i wanted

for the most part, my kites lasted and i didn't cry much

Balla twine...me used to call thread-spool, catta reel, until I was told later in life, its called cotton reel. Donsee  = Don't see, pagla bai, lil class.

Tola posted:

redux posted:

my father made all the kites for us kids . . . they weren't the most dazzling, but were very sturdy and sang like a rass

for me the key was the balla twine . . . i would research and test the offerings of the particular year and browbeat my parents to get the one i wanted

for the most part, my kites lasted and i didn't cry much

Balla twine...me used to call thread-spool, catta reel, until I was told later in life, its called cotton reel. Donsee  = Don't see, pagla bai, lil class.

bai, pre-Easter, we kids used to make pointer kite with flour paste and any paper we could find, including newspaper

these simple kites couldn't sing because to mek bow u need bamboo and wood to anchor it in

wan seamstress in the neighborhood used to help we out with strong coarse thread to get these things up

good times

Tola posted:

redux posted:

my father made all the kites for us kids . . . they weren't the most dazzling, but were very sturdy and sang like a rass

for me the key was the balla twine . . . i would research and test the offerings of the particular year and browbeat my parents to get the one i wanted

for the most part, my kites lasted and i didn't cry much

Balla twine...me used to call thread-spool, catta reel, until I was told later in life, its called cotton reel. Donsee  = Don't see, pagla bai, lil class.

You nearly got me choking on some french fries.

I recall the big kites there were competition to see which one last longer in the air,they used ropes to fly the big kites.

I seem to recall the string used was Double nought.... 00

A kite with a short tail (swirling around a lot) with lots of razor blades on the tail and walking by other people flying their kites.

I can relate to the stories you all shared. 

The thing that I really looked forward to was taking my kite out early in Easter Monday morning. My dad made kites for us and for many cousins. They were really colourful with different patchwork. For the month prior to Easter, there were kites in various state of completion around the house so the anticipation built to the Monday. He accompanied us to the seaway like to ensure that we were all successful in getting our kites up. 

Still think too about the duck, chicken or mutton curry, the aloo roti, the dhal, puri, the sweets, the ginger beer etc. And the beautiful girls, the great friends and the enjoyable times.

Very Nice Thread.

I remember the good old days in Berbice with lots of open space to fly kites including the No. 63 Beach with my beautiful mixed Girlfriend, beautiful more that a queen.

In my younger days we had two types of kites, "broomie" made of brooms and kite paper and "boardie" made of soft board and kite paper.

We had lots of what other folks are calling gamma cherry in our estate or farmland, we called it paysie. My buddy Boisee was an expert at pasting them and setting up the string around the broom or board to have the correct tension so the when you installed the tongue, the kite would sing.

Broomy kites gave a high pitched noise and Boardie gave a loud noise.

We bought tailors thread for the broomie and fisherman's twine for the boardie and boy, did those kit fly high and sang.

The sky was flooded with kites big and small and they sang all types of songs. 

Easter morning was a treat as we flew our kites and enjoyed soft drinks iceee, pepsi, puma and other types of sweet drinks and our home made cakes.

Thousands headed to No. 63 Beach to fly their kites and had fun. Dem New Amsterdam and Town girls would also come down to the beach and we would "lime" them.

Easter was fun in those days and I am sure that is still fun till this day.

Happy Easter. May Lord Jesus bless us all.

yuji22 posted:

Very Nice Thread.

I remember the good old days in Berbice with lots of open space to fly kites including the No. 63 Beach with my beautiful mixed Girlfriend, beautiful more that a queen.

In my younger days we had two types of kites, "broomie" made of brooms and kite paper and "boardie" made of soft board and kite paper.

We had lots of what other folks are calling gamma cherry in our estate or farmland, we called it paysie. My buddy Boisee was an expert at pasting them and setting up the string around the broom or board to have the correct tension so the when you installed the tongue, the kite would sing.

Broomy kites gave a high pitched noise and Boardie gave a loud noise.

We bought tailors thread for the broomie and fisherman's twine for the boardie and boy, did those kit fly high and sang.

The sky was flooded with kites big and small and they sang all types of songs. 

Easter morning was a treat as we flew our kites and enjoyed soft drinks iceee, pepsi, puma and other types of sweet drinks and our home made cakes.

Thousands headed to No. 63 Beach to fly their kites and had fun. Dem New Amsterdam and Town girls would also come down to the beach and we would "lime" them.

Easter was fun in those days and I am sure that is still fun till this day.

Happy Easter. May Lord Jesus bless us all.

Beautiful mixed girlfriend, eh?  Is who u think u fooling? .  Nevertheless, My Kite flying days with my friends was based on sheer wickedness. You didn't want us no way near your caddy ole punch.
We used to make our kites ourselves.....with a purpose.
Lemme see if I remember rite. A singing engine, mounting loop, short tail and some razor blades.

Sheik101 posted:

yuji22 posted:

Very Nice Thread.

I remember the good old days in Berbice with lots of open space to fly kites including the No. 63 Beach with my beautiful mixed Girlfriend, beautiful more that a queen.

In my younger days we had two types of kites, "broomie" made of brooms and kite paper and "boardie" made of soft board and kite paper.

We had lots of what other folks are calling gamma cherry in our estate or farmland, we called it paysie. My buddy Boisee was an expert at pasting them and setting up the string around the broom or board to have the correct tension so the when you installed the tongue, the kite would sing.

Broomy kites gave a high pitched noise and Boardie gave a loud noise.

We bought tailors thread for the broomie and fisherman's twine for the boardie and boy, did those kit fly high and sang.

The sky was flooded with kites big and small and they sang all types of songs. 

Easter morning was a treat as we flew our kites and enjoyed soft drinks iceee, pepsi, puma and other types of sweet drinks and our home made cakes.

Thousands headed to No. 63 Beach to fly their kites and had fun. Dem New Amsterdam and Town girls would also come down to the beach and we would "lime" them.

Easter was fun in those days and I am sure that is still fun till this day.

Happy Easter. May Lord Jesus bless us all.

Beautiful mixed girlfriend, eh?  Is who u think u fooling? .  Nevertheless, My Kite flying days with my friends was based on sheer wickedness. You didn't want us no way near your caddy ole punch.
We used to make our kites ourselves.....with a purpose.
Lemme see if I remember rite. A singing engine, mounting loop, short tail and some razor blades.

Dem Bad Boys used to put razor blades on the tail and had the short loop so that the kite would spin and cut the twine on unsuspecting kite flyers.

Like you was a bad boy in you young days ?

Same as Kari.

BTW, I am dead serious about my mixed girlfriend. I was ahead of my times but that story is for another day.  Hope poster Gil does not get a hold of this post.

yuji22 posted:

Sheik101 posted:

yuji22 posted:

Very Nice Thread.

I remember the good old days in Berbice with lots of open space to fly kites including the No. 63 Beach with my beautiful mixed Girlfriend, beautiful more that a queen.

In my younger days we had two types of kites, "broomie" made of brooms and kite paper and "boardie" made of soft board and kite paper.

We had lots of what other folks are calling gamma cherry in our estate or farmland, we called it paysie. My buddy Boisee was an expert at pasting them and setting up the string around the broom or board to have the correct tension so the when you installed the tongue, the kite would sing.

Broomy kites gave a high pitched noise and Boardie gave a loud noise.

We bought tailors thread for the broomie and fisherman's twine for the boardie and boy, did those kit fly high and sang.

The sky was flooded with kites big and small and they sang all types of songs. 

Easter morning was a treat as we flew our kites and enjoyed soft drinks iceee, pepsi, puma and other types of sweet drinks and our home made cakes.

Thousands headed to No. 63 Beach to fly their kites and had fun. Dem New Amsterdam and Town girls would also come down to the beach and we would "lime" them.

Easter was fun in those days and I am sure that is still fun till this day.

Happy Easter. May Lord Jesus bless us all.

Beautiful mixed girlfriend, eh?  Is who u think u fooling? .  Nevertheless, My Kite flying days with my friends was based on sheer wickedness. You didn't want us no way near your caddy ole punch.
We used to make our kites ourselves.....with a purpose.
Lemme see if I remember rite. A singing engine, mounting loop, short tail and some razor blades.

Dem Bad Boys used to put razor blades on the tail and had the short loop so that the kite would spin and cut the twine on unsuspecting kite flyers.

Like you was a bad boy in you young days ?

Same as Kari.

BTW, I am dead serious about my mixed girlfriend. I was ahead of my times but that story is for another day.  Hope poster Gil does not get a hold of this post.

Nuff fite used to break out at the National park and dat seawalls. We used to do this just fuh kicks, eh?  Reckless youthman days.

Sheik101 posted:

yuji22 posted:

Sheik101 posted:

yuji22 posted:

Very Nice Thread.

I remember the good old days in Berbice with lots of open space to fly kites including the No. 63 Beach with my beautiful mixed Girlfriend, beautiful more that a queen.

In my younger days we had two types of kites, "broomie" made of brooms and kite paper and "boardie" made of soft board and kite paper.

We had lots of what other folks are calling gamma cherry in our estate or farmland, we called it paysie. My buddy Boisee was an expert at pasting them and setting up the string around the broom or board to have the correct tension so the when you installed the tongue, the kite would sing.

Broomy kites gave a high pitched noise and Boardie gave a loud noise.

We bought tailors thread for the broomie and fisherman's twine for the boardie and boy, did those kit fly high and sang.

The sky was flooded with kites big and small and they sang all types of songs. 

Easter morning was a treat as we flew our kites and enjoyed soft drinks iceee, pepsi, puma and other types of sweet drinks and our home made cakes.

Thousands headed to No. 63 Beach to fly their kites and had fun. Dem New Amsterdam and Town girls would also come down to the beach and we would "lime" them.

Easter was fun in those days and I am sure that is still fun till this day.

Happy Easter. May Lord Jesus bless us all.

Beautiful mixed girlfriend, eh?  Is who u think u fooling? .  Nevertheless, My Kite flying days with my friends was based on sheer wickedness. You didn't want us no way near your caddy ole punch.
We used to make our kites ourselves.....with a purpose.
Lemme see if I remember rite. A singing engine, mounting loop, short tail and some razor blades.

Dem Bad Boys used to put razor blades on the tail and had the short loop so that the kite would spin and cut the twine on unsuspecting kite flyers.

Like you was a bad boy in you young days ?

Same as Kari.

BTW, I am dead serious about my mixed girlfriend. I was ahead of my times but that story is for another day.  Hope poster Gil does not get a hold of this post.

Nuff fite used to break out at the National park and dat seawalls. We used to do this just fuh kicks, eh?  Reckless youthman days.

Sometimes I wonder how we in de country side  survive dem days. It was a dangerous time, not so much with fights, but dangerous things we did.  Den we get older and it was still dangerous.   

as youngsters growing up we embraced those dangers without any fear.

people does slide down them long banisters backwards, I use to do it facing forward, when you land you have to run off right away cause the momentum pitches you forward. One day I ran straight into a tree up ahead and hit my head. That was the end of that style of stunt.

We used to play cricket on the nearby garbage dump. There was this one guy who plays bared feet. Many times he would run into the trench chasing a catch and come back out with huge gashes on his feet from broken bottles. I was never that committed. I always played it safe.

The banister was also me favourite in Vancouver, with my home-stay children. The running momentum is important after landing. One day me run  straight into the edge of an open door. No stitches, but I had a dent, den a bump, on my forehead for the next few days.   

You an yugi  lucky yall din break yall lolees

So far I read this thread without much input, whilst waiting for someone to drop the bomb and mention the one thing that marks out a hardcore kite flying neighbourhood upbringing. I am going to mention it now: RAZOR BLADE. Do I need to say more?

In Suriname I learnt to make kite with bamboo and cloth. It was very popular amongst the Indonesian population in Suriname, so I assume that they might have brought the technique with them from Indonesia. i also learnt how to make kites without a tail. And on likely rainy days the brave would try out the Newton experiment with a kite. I won't repeat it here what it involves just in case some youngster read it and end up getting electrocuted.

That is one big ass kite deh Baseman.

yuji22 posted:

Very Nice Thread.

I remember the good old days in Berbice with lots of open space to fly kites including the No. 63 Beach with my beautiful mixed Girlfriend, beautiful more that a queen.

In my younger days we had two types of kites, "broomie" made of brooms and kite paper and "boardie" made of soft board and kite paper.

We had lots of what other folks are calling gamma cherry in our estate or farmland, we called it paysie. My buddy Boisee was an expert at pasting them and setting up the string around the broom or board to have the correct tension so the when you installed the tongue, the kite would sing.

Broomy kites gave a high pitched noise and Boardie gave a loud noise.

We bought tailors thread for the broomie and fisherman's twine for the boardie and boy, did those kit fly high and sang.

The sky was flooded with kites big and small and they sang all types of songs. 

Easter morning was a treat as we flew our kites and enjoyed soft drinks iceee, pepsi, puma and other types of sweet drinks and our home made cakes.

Thousands headed to No. 63 Beach to fly their kites and had fun. Dem New Amsterdam and Town girls would also come down to the beach and we would "lime" them.

Easter was fun in those days and I am sure that is still fun till this day.

Happy Easter. May Lord Jesus bless us all.

With precise words like those highlighted, who needs photos to prove that you love a Guyanese-style Easter? Excellent sketch. May Lord Jesus bless you too.

Sheik101 posted:

yuji22 posted:

Very Nice Thread.

I remember the good old days in Berbice with lots of open space to fly kites including the No. 63 Beach with my beautiful mixed Girlfriend, beautiful more that a queen.

 

 

 

Beautiful mixed girlfriend, eh?  Is who u think u fooling? .  

yuji is telling the truth here. He did have a beautiful mixed girlfriend but his racial coolie father decided to post him to Canada before he adulterated the family's assumed pure Indo bloodline. Needless to say, yuji was terribly heartbroken but Time heals all wounds and he moved on.

We coolies can be extremely racist. When I was with a half Chinese/half Indonesian women I had few problems with the family. When I started going out with a black woman, only my brother showed up for the wedding. And till today 30 years later is only him and my mum that pass by. Mind you, my mum only pass by to see her grandkids. I don't really have much good to say about the coolies in my family.

Gilbakka posted:

Sheik101 posted:

yuji22 posted:

Very Nice Thread.

I remember the good old days in Berbice with lots of open space to fly kites including the No. 63 Beach with my beautiful mixed Girlfriend, beautiful more that a queen.

Beautiful mixed girlfriend, eh?  Is who u think u fooling? .  

yuji is telling the truth here. He did have a beautiful mixed girlfriend but his racial coolie father decided to post him to Canada before he adulterated the family's assumed pure Indo bloodline. Needless to say, yuji was terribly heartbroken but Time heals all wounds and he moved on.

"mixed" could mean a lot of things

was the girl part Afro?

redux posted:

Gilbakka posted:

Sheik101 posted:

yuji22 posted:

Very Nice Thread.

I remember the good old days in Berbice with lots of open space to fly kites including the No. 63 Beach with my beautiful mixed Girlfriend, beautiful more that a queen.

Beautiful mixed girlfriend, eh?  Is who u think u fooling? .  

yuji is telling the truth here. He did have a beautiful mixed girlfriend but his racial coolie father decided to post him to Canada before he adulterated the family's assumed pure Indo bloodline. Needless to say, yuji was terribly heartbroken but Time heals all wounds and he moved on.

"mixed" could mean a lot of things

was the girl part Afro?

Absolutely. Very beautiful dougla. 

My father, uncles and friends will patiently and with great care plan the kites with various designs and then cutting and pasting the small pieces in their respective places.

The kites are then placed carefully to dry and settle.  On Easter/special-kite-flying day everyone to their own flying their kites and having fun.

Of course, special meals and items were prepared for the occasion.

Prior to Easter Monday, we all were flying our "kaddy-old-punches" and also having fun. Of course, there was fun for some and dismay for others when a kite gets cut or tangled-up in a tree.

@Sheik101 posted:

Beautiful mixed girlfriend, eh?  Is who u think u fooling? .  Nevertheless, My Kite flying days with my friends was based on sheer wickedness. You didn't want us no way near your caddy ole punch.
We used to make our kites ourselves.....with a purpose.
Lemme see if I remember rite. A singing engine, mounting loop, short tail and some razor blades.

I hate you and all the wicked guys who put razors on their kites.  

Prashad had a beautiful black Guyanese girlfriend once. But she was so afraid to tell her father about koolie Prashad. Prashad never had a problem with his mulatto wife parents though.

@Prashad posted:

Prashad had a beautiful black Guyanese girlfriend once. But she was so afraid to tell her father about koolie Prashad. Prashad never had a problem with his mulatto wife parents though.

So you're saying this is your best memory of Easter in Guyana?