Saturday 11 August 2007

Castellers

A castell is a human tower traditionally built during festivals in many places in Catalonia, Spain. At these festivals, several teams - called colles castelleres - meet and try to build the most impressive towers they can. The tradition originated in the southern part of Catalonia at the end of the 18th century.

A castell is considered a success when it is properly assembled and dismantled, that is, when everyone has climbed into place, the enxaneta (the last one) climbs up to the top, raises one hand (with four fingers erect, said to symbolize the stripes of the Catalan flag), climbs down the other side of the castell, and then everyone else comes down safely.

1 comment(s):

Anonymous said...

Nice post!

(from catalonia with love ;) )