Basant Festival of Kites is a festival to celebrate the first day of spring. Basant, also known as Basant Panchami, was a time for families to gather together and spend the day flying kites. The Basant Kite Festival in Pakistan was celebrated in Lahore and all around Pakistan, where a huge crowd participated and Kite flying competitions took place.
It was customary to wear bright yellow outfits on Basant, as it’s the colour of the mustard flowers. During the day every member of the teams had a critical role to play. Over some rooftops, on Basant day, the same players who were there the year before, would appear, ready for a fierce contest. It was rumoured that there were heavy stakes and betting.
The date of the Basant kite festival in Lahore, Pakistan until 2007 was determined by the authorities, always on a Sunday and usually at the end of February or the beginning of March.
In 2007, the festival was banned, primarily due to an increasing number of deaths and serious injuries. Thousands of kite- and twine-makers were deprived of their ancestral profession and source of livelihood. Resultantly, the masters who had struggled during the off-season, lost hope and their children abandoned the craft which was already dying. A crackdown followed. Even those suspected of kite flying were apprehended and punished.
Reasons for the ban were:
Bullets and tracer bullets fired during celebratory gunfire
Dangerous types of kite strings, such as metal wire, or strings coated in ground glass or metal filings
Electrocutions caused by flying metal wire kites near power lines
Electrocutions caused by people touching power lines while trying to retrieve kites
Falls from rooftops related to flying or trying to retrieve kites
Short Circuits from metal kite wires touching power lines
Costs incurred from switching off the power grid to prevent short circuits
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