Stop by MUZEO’s booth at the Downtown Anaheim Farmers’ Market to pick up your free craft kit and enjoy creating with your family and friends. Your kit will include all the supplies you need to make the craft – plus printed and video tutorials in English and Spanish.
This month, we’re enjoying the cooler breezes of a coming autumn (we’re optimistic) with fish windsock kites, also known as Koinobori. Koinobori means carp streamer in Japanese.
About Koinobori
According to an ancient Chinese legend, a mixed school of fish tried to fight their way up a waterfall called “ryumon” (龍門), or Dragon Gate. While all the other fish gave up and drifted downstream, the carps persisted, and once inside Dragon Gate, they transformed into dragons. While there are different versions of this age-old tale, the Japanese version ripened into a proverb—”koi no taki-nobori,” 鯉の滝登り, or koi (carps) fighting upstream on the waterfall. It was shortened to the current koinobori, the modern name for the famous carp flags.
Koinobori symbolizes the desire for children to become brave and strong individuals. Carp-shaped windsocks are generally flown in Japan to celebrate Kodomo no Hi – Children’s Day. To learn more about the tradition, visit the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center’s webpage https://www.jaccc.org/kodomonohi-2021.
Materials List
If you stop by the market, your free kit will include the materials you need to make your kite. You will need to gather scissors, glue stick, and hole punch. (It’s ok if you don’t have a hole punch – any implement you can find to punch a hole will do).
If you’re tuning in from home, here are the materials you will need.
- Construction paper
- Crayons, markers, or oil pastels
- String, yarn, or fishing line
- Streamers or tissue paper cut into strips
- Googly eyes
- Tools: scissors, glue stick, hole punch
About the Teaching Artist: Adriana Martinez
Adriana Martinez is an art teacher and community art advocate focusing on engaging artists and non-artists alike. In 2018 she started a Sketching Club in Santa Ana as a means to promote creativity through sketchbook exercises for the purpose of mental health. For weekly prompts, you can follow her on IG @sketchbookjunkie.
