When is Kite Festival in 2017?

The date of the 2017 Kite Festival in India is Saturday, January 14th. 

What is Kite Festival?

First celebrated in 1989, India's Kite Festival occurs in Gujarat - a western state of India that celebrates more than 2,000 festivals every year - with the main event occurring in Ahmdabad, which is the kite capital of Gujarat. The celebration is regarded as one of the biggest festivals in the region and has become a public holiday that spans two days. Formally, the event is known as the International Kite Festival, or, Uttarayan, and occurs on January 14th each year. Since it's creation, the festival has spread to over 42 countries. 

Based on the Indian calendar, the 2017 Kite Festival itself signifies the day when the winter season begin turnings to summer. The event signals to local farmers that the days are going to start getting longer with more sunlight as well as announcing the approaching harvest season, called Makar Sankranti. Locals begin preparing for the celebration months in advance as most participants build their own kites for the festivites. During the festival, many cities organize local kite flying competitions. Locals begin preparing for the celebration months in advance as most participants build their own kites. 

Many people agree that the best place to view the celebration is from the Sardar Patel Stadium, a cricket stadium that can holda over 54,000 people, or the Ahmedabad Police Station, where people can see thousands of kites in the sky. Recently, the Kite Festival in India received a big boost in world popularity as a result of being featured on SnapChat's "Live Story Feed."