Castellers

By Laia Esquerrà, Victoria Englert and Xènia Nogué

UNESCO has just declared "els Castellers" part of the World Heritage. Now they are better protected than before and it is more unlikely this tradition disappears.

The entire Catalan population, and most especially "les colles de castellers", are very happy about this declaration because it is a very important measure.

The castells are a very old Catalan tradition. They started in the Tarragona area with only one or two colles; now there are more than 60. They have existed for 200 years and they share a common origin with the muixeranga, which is typical of Valencia but differs in the fact that it has religious elements.

The castellers grew in popularity in 1981 when the first nine-level castells were achieved. A castell involves building human towers with one to five people on each level, to the highest level possible. There are only five teams who have been able to build "gamma-extra" castells. The most recent one was a "3 de 10", which means ten levels consisting of three people on each level. It is a sport that requires a great deal of strength, balance, courage and intelligence. The lowest levels are made up of the biggest and strongest members, while the highest feature little kids aged four and five. Anybody who climbs up the castell has to be very agile and able to climb very fast. Castells normally have eight or nine levels so those underneath have to support very great weights. They wear sashes to protect their backs. A coloured shirt and some white trousers form the typical costume of the castellers. There are six positions in one castle. The most important are the twos (dosos), the lifter (aixecador) and the rider (anxeneta). Four kids comprise the top group (pom de dalt).

Castellers have now been exported to Chile, where they are used as therapy for children with problems.