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Castellers – The Human Towers of La Merce
By Spooky on September 28th, 2010 Category: Events, Pics
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Every year, towards the end of September, the Spanish town
of Barcelona hosts its largest street party – the “La Merce”
Festival. One of the highlights of the event is the building
of impressive human towers, by acrobats known as “castellers”.
Translated as “castle builders”, castellers are the people
that take part in the building of the human towers, in the
middle of Placa de Jaume. Surrounded by thousands of people
who come to see them at work, the teams of castellers create
impressive tower formations, several meters high. As you
might imagine, this kind of exercise requires quite a deal
of practice and planning, but if successful, their human
structure is truly a sight to behold.
La Merce towers Castellers The Human Towers of La Merce
Photo credits
The tradition of building human towers known as “castells”
began during the 18th century, in the town of Valls,
Tarragona, where groups of castellers would compete
in building the best human castles we know today. The
tradition was kept alive throughout the centuries, and
various teams of castellers still compete in front of
thousands, to erect the tallest, most impressive castells.
La Merce towers2 Castellers The Human Towers of La Merce
Photo credits
To construct a fine human tower, a great deal of
technique is required, and a series of factors has
to be taken into consideration. First, the base of
the tower, known as the pinya, is formed with great
discipline, requiring all the members of the group
to take their allotted positions. Then the layers
of the castell begin to rise, with the strongest
members of the group making up the lower levels,
while the lightest, more agile members climb on
their shoulders. The last person to climb on top
of the human tower is the anxaneta, a young boy
or girl, who has to raise their hand and wave
to public. This is the highlight of the event,
as only then is the castell considered crowned.
La Merce towers3 Castellers The Human Towers of La Merce
Photo credits
But, considering some castells grow to be 8-9
levels high, building them is only half the job,
and taking them down is also very tricky. However,
the castellers are seasoned athletes who practice
all year long, just to avoid accidents from
happening. La Merce Festival is the highlight
of their yearly schedule, but they can be seen
performing at various venues, throughout Europe,
all year long.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castell
A castell is considered a success when stages of its assembling
and disassembling, can be done in complete succession. The
assembly is complete once all castellers have climbed into
their designated places, and the enxaneta climbs into place
at the top and raises one hand with four fingers erect, in a
gesture said to symbolize the stripes of the Catalan flag. The
enxaneta then climbs down the other side of the castell, after
which the remaining levels of castellers descend in
highest-to-lowest order until all have reached safety.
Aside from the people who climb to form the upper parts of
the tower, others are needed to form the pinya, or bottom base
of the castell, to sustain its weight. Members of the pinya
(most often men) also act as a 'safety net' if the tower
structure collapses, cushioning the fall of people from the
upper levels. It is not uncommon—when not in competitions—for
other colles to assist in the pinya when a small colla is
attempting a specially demanding structure in terms of people
needed.
The castell is built in two phases. First, the pinya—the base of the tower—is formed. People forming higher levels of the tower move to a position from which they can easily get to their place in the tower. This is done slowly and carefully,[3] and as subsequent base levels are completed the castellers in the pinya determine if their base is solid enough for construction to continue. Then, when the signal to proceed is given, bands begin to play the traditional Toc de Castells music as a hush comes over spectators of the event. The upper layers of the tower are built as quickly as possible in order to put minimal strain on the lower castellers, who bear most of the weight of the castell. The disassembly of the castell, done amidst the cheering of the crowd, is often the most treacherous stage of the event.
There is a form of the Castell, generally referred to as 'rising', in which each successive layer is added from the bottom by lifting the castell into the air, stage by stage. It is held that this form takes even more skill and strength and a great deal of practice. Four levels complete have been observed and five attempted, but it is said that the record is six or perhaps seven.
http://www.kuriositas.com/2010/11/human-towers-of-castellers.html
No one is quite sure but at some point in the 18th century someone
in the Valls, near the Catalonian city of Tarragona dreamed of a
castle tower ("castell" in Catalonian). Yet he may not have
been an architect or an engineer: his tower was made of people.
It was an idea that took off. It developed throughout Catalonia
– even spreading as far as Majorca – and has for the last few
decades been enjoying something of a renaissance after many
years of prohibition under General Franco. Although it is
popular throughout many parts of Spain, you have to go to its
birthplace to find the most skilled castellers.
To the casual observer, it may appear that there are no set
rules when building (and taking down) a castell, but that
cannot be further from the truth. To begin with, the castell
must be built in strict succession and among those who make
up the teams there are different names to indicate their
particular function.
Could the building of the castells have come from the Catalan
desire for self-determination? The enxaneta is the person who
clambers to the very top of the castell. The tower is considered
complete when he or she raises their hand, four fingers
proud in the wind. This is often said to represent the
four stripes on the Catalan flag.
Once this is done, the enxaneta can climb down – the other
castellers then follow in order until all of them have
reached the safety of the ground. Of course the castell,
like any other construction of this size must have firm
foundations and that is where the pinya come in. These
are the people, mostly men, who create the base of the
castell and give it the strength to support the enormous
weight of those who will form the other levels.
The pinya have to be strong – not only do they support
the weight of the castell, if it falls they are the human
safety net upon which all the higher castellers will land.
This is not an activity for the faint hearted by any means.
Yet the power of the pinyas is highlighted by the vibrant
colors of their teams and dazzles the eyes.
The pinya are also those who decide the success of a tower,
giving directions. They form the ground level first and
give the signal for the castell’s progress to continue.
As this is done a band will play, even though most watching
the event are hushed in to silence, willing the castellers
to succeed. Speed is now of the essence. In order not to
put inhuman strain on the pinya the succeeding levels are
quickly assembled.
Although the construction of the castell is by far the
part which engages the crowd the most when it comes to
the disassembly then the time arrives when many accidents
have happened over the years. When it is being built,
sometimes a rising can be attempted which is where, instead
of clambering, each successive layer of the castell is
lifted in to place. As with any finished piece of construction,
it looks easy once it is finished but this is hard work
not without its dangers.
Four or five levels are the norm but it is said that the
record is seven layers. Imagine the stress and weight
against those at the bottom of the castell. They always
wear the kit of their team of castellers, white trousers,
a bandana and a colored shirt which often bears the emblem
of the team. A final flourish is the black sash but this
is worn as much for use as for decoration. The castellers
climb barefoot and the sash has its uses in their ascent.
It is known as the faixa and is used to support the
back – plus it is also used as a foot or a handhold by
other members of the team as they clamber up the castell.
The length of the sash is often dependent on where the
casteller will end up in the tower – the higher they go
the shorter the faixa tends to be. For the pinya it can
be extraordinarily long.
You may think that the fatality rate among castellers is
relatively high compared to, say, tennis. In thirty
years there have been two deaths which, while tragedies,
is a testament to the care and effort the team put in to
ensure everyone’s mutual safety.
There are qualities which are looked for in new members
of any team – and this makes up the motto of castellers
in general. Strength, balance, courage and reason are
all prerequisites of a casteller – or in Catalan:
"Força, equilibri, valor i sen."
There is also a sophisticated nomenclature which is used
to describe the number of people who will be in each level
of a castell as well as the total number of levels. There
are also names for the styles of formations that are to be built.
So, here is to the castellers - human towers extraordinaire!
Many thanks to Vimeo film maker Mike Randolph for his
marvellous record of this year's festival in Tarragona.