It makes those who have never seen it stop in their tracks, while Catalans who have grown up with it find their chests swelling with pride.
Building castells, the centuries-old Catalan tradition of creating human towers up to 10 levels high, is a cross-cultural snapshot of a region in the political spotlight amid moves to give it great autonomy from Madrid.
“Catalans are serious, they’re hard workers and they like to work for their community,” said Xavier Ortega, president and co-founder of one of Barcelona’s five castle-making teams, the Castellers del Poble Sec.
“The force in a castell is typical of our strength of working in groups and communities. A human group has so much potential.”
Originally part of the traditional dances in Catalonian cities such as Tarragona and Valencia, building castells became a tradition in its own right in the 1800s.
Made with sweat, bone and muscle, the castells are true feats of engineering using up to 100 people, with the base where Ortega (49) spends most of his time supporting huge weights.
Known as the pinya (Catalan for “pineapple”), the base is a claustrophobe’s nightmare, packed so tightly that it is impossible to move, but provides rock-solid support for the tower above — acting both as a foundation and a set of flying buttresses.
Above the pinya, level upon level of the castell rises into the sky, each one tending to have lighter and younger members than the one below it. Once in place, a five-year-old climbs to the top from where he blows a kiss to the crowd below.
For spectators and team members, it’s a highly emotional experience.
“The young people feel very proud to be part of this,” said Ortega. “And for me, it’s like a drug to build a castell.”
The team comes from a mix of background from grandfathers well into their 50s and 60s, working parents, thirty-somethings, pimply teens and kids so young they seem to be able to climb as well as they walk.
Benet Inigo is the team captain, whose job it is to get the most out of the people he works with.
“It’s a mix of force, equilibrium, valour and conscience,” he said, paraphrasing 19th-century poet Anselm Clave’s take on castellers. “That’s what we’re all about. Once you know these things [about your team], you can figure out what you want to do.”
He totes around a set of books to note down the dates and places where he has seen some more technical and impressive castells.
There’s even an informal website that recently ranked the Castellers del Poble Sec 34th out of 52 teams, according to the level of difficulty of their castells.
“Some people like to see what their team’s ranking is, but most don’t care,” he said. “The competitive aspect doesn’t interest me much.”
When his team participate in public performances, he’s the first to get his troops to help the other teams. And he is more interested in getting his team to work together than moving them up through the ranks.
“The first thing you think of is what each person is capable of,” he said. To do this, he studies each person, looking at their weight, height and level of skill. “Then you want to be able to teach people.”
Safety is also a major concern, as falls from such a great height can often result in bruises and broken bones.
He also enjoys his team’s diversity. Although the sport has its origins in southern Catalonia and used to be more masculine or full of Catalan independistas, he has trouble characterising today’s typical castellers.
“It’s difficult — many teams now have as many women as men,” he said. “We have immigrants and people of all ages.”
“I’m very Catalan,” said Joaquim Perez (20), who is in charge of the younger kids that make up the top of the castell. “I do it because it’s a Catalan thing.”
“Thanks to the older guys in the pinya the people above have a solid foundation to work from,” he said, seemingly addressing the physical and symbolic importance of the older men on whose shoulders he and his trainees stand.
“I used to play football and swim, but it felt like an obligation,” said Sandra Fabrega, who, at 12, has already been in the team for five years. “If you’re a casteller, you do it because you want to do it.” — AFP