England has its Morris Dancers, Scotland it's Highland Games, and Catalunya has it's Castellers, groups of townspeople who gather to build pyramids of humanity, and compete for pleasure and modest glory.
Nobody knows for sure when building Castells began, but it's thought that like the events above, it was an offshoot of trade fairs and feast days in the 18th century, when locals would show off a bit by balancing on each others shoulders, and the more complex towers developed from there.
Left: The "Anxaneta" signals the completion of the Castell.
"Castellers" are more or less unique to Cataunya, which is surprising as the events are so exciting musically, colourfully and emotionally to watch. The process involves building a tower of people - Men and Women are involved - standing on each others shoulders up to ten levels high. Obviously the biggest and strongest form the "Ground Floor" with progressively slimmer and lighter peple above until the top layer consists of a small child who, as he/she reaches the top pauses to raise his arm at which point the tower is judged complete.
An important part of the event is the music, provided by the old Medieval instrument known as the "Gralla", a woodwind flute, and "Timbals" or simple drums.
Right: "Grallers" tune up before a competition.
There are dozens of teams or "Colles" in Catalunya. Each team has it's own uniform colour and on competition days the "Plaças" are a riot of bright shirts. The head of a team is called the "Cap de Colla" (head).
The method of construction is very complex. Though it may look simple, the Castell is an engineering structure with a design. The structure will have two basic features - the number of people on each layer, and the number of levels. In my experience the layer can consists of from 1 to seven people, and the layers from 4 to 10. Catalan numbers are used to describe this, so 4 people going up eight layers would be a "Quatre de Vuit" and five people going up six layers as "Cinc de Sis".
There's one other major building element. The base usually comprises a tight group of supporters called the "Pinya", (pineapple) as they look like the chunks of that fruit! In more complex towers a level stands atop the Pinya, and this is called the "Folre" (padding). In the most ambitious there is a layer above the Folre calles the "Manilles" (handcuffs). These layers all act like the butresses of a cathedral, carrying the weight of the tower to the ground. The Cap de Colla organises and instructs the construction from the start - the building of the Pinya, the locking of arms then the construction of each layer as the tower progresses.
The image shows the cruciform plan of the Pinya. The heaviest members make up the core while carefully locked bodies embrace all parts of the base to give it strength. The Folre and Manilles take similar form, but smaller.
Each member of the team wears a bandana and a waist band called the "Faixa". (sash). The faixa acts as a corset to support the back muscles and also as a "step" for those climbing up and down barefoot.
The building of the tower progresses under the instruction of the Cap de Colla, with each layer following each other by climbing up the ones below until the penultimate layer or "Aixecador" bends low to allow the Anxaneta to crawl over his back, and the tower is complete. The members immediately start to descend as fast as they can, while the tower trembles. It is at this time that towers sometimes collapse, and small injuries such as lost teeth or black eyes are common. Serious injuries such as fractures occur from time to time and sadly a small child died some years ago, resulting in the use of special safety helmets for all children in the upper layers.
Left: A Quatre de Vuit" nears completion. The "Joves Xiquets de Valls" in Action on their home ground.
One of the most endearing features of these shows is the collaboration and friendship between the teams. In the photo at left you can see the members of the blue (Terrassa) team supporting the "Pinya" of the Valls home team.
Culture, Colour, Music, History, Friendly people, Cold beers and Tapas under a Warm Sun. What more could you ask for?
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