Authors: Scott Skinner
Date Submitted: February 28, 2005
Article Type: Journal

The thrill of collecting results often not from the item found so much as the information contained in the item. So it is with a recently discovered article The Game of Kite Cutting from an 1880s periodical. The author, F.D. Clarke, recalls his childhood many years before in San Antonio, Texas, where kite flying meant—-kite cutting!

On his first trip to the small hill near San Pedro Creek, where many kites were already airborne, Clark described the question posed by a fellow flier: “Tiene usted navajas?” (“Have you any knives?”) Thinking the Mexican boy wanted to borrow his pocket knife, Clarke answered “Yes” and went digging for the knife, while watching his kite soar above all the rest.

He soon saw one of the other hexagonally shaped kites cross his line, drag its tail across his, and cut his flying line. Chasing his kite and gathering his string, the author still thought an innocent mistake had caused the mishap, until another friend explained “Tiene usted navajas?” means, “Do you have any cutters on your kite line?” Cutters were glass shards or knives tied into the tails of the local kites. Any kite with cutters was fair game for others, while any without was safe.

PDF Link: Journal Issue