Castellers, Barcelona's Human Towers

While in Barcelona for the Feste de Merce, we got to watch Castellers build human towers in the Gothic Quarter twice. Along with the Correfoc, watching the teams steadily build their lofty towers was the most memorable part of my time in Barcelona.

The base or pinya is formed first and usually comprised of burly men ready to both support the rest of the tower and also to break the fall of any unlucky castellers. Since it's only possible to see those above the level of the crowd, the pinya was hidden from my view and what appears to be the first level in my photos is actually the second.

Once the pinya is in place, the next layer moves in from the outside over their shoulders and the music Toc de Castells stikes up.

The castell is completed when the wee helmeted enxaneta climbs to the top, and raises a hand with four fingers symbolizing the stripes of the Catalan flag. Often, the enxaneta was only on the top for a moment, throwing his or her hand up into the air for an instant before climbing back down.

When the exaneta neared the top, about half the crowd started cheering, with the other half shushing them so as not the break the castellers concentration.

Catalonia was counting down the days until its referendum on Sunday 9th November 2014. This says something like "We need 46 days"

While the building of the castell is amazing, it's when they start to climb down you can really begin to see the strength and endurance of the castellers, as they start to shake in exertion as the higher layers climb down.

The teams were from different neighborhoods in Barcelona and they all wore a uniform of white pants, a shirt in their team colors, and a wide belt around their waste. The climbers would use the belt as a foothold, but I also suspect it provides support for their back and core like a lifting belt.

We saw one fall, another abort their attempt.

An announcer called out numbers and formations, and from what I could understand each team needed to complete the formation to proceed. Some of the formations had many people per level, and some there could only be two.

We saw the agulla formation, where a framework of castellers descend around a central column of people all on each others' shoulders. The ones we saw moved across the square in order to complete the challenge.

There was also a good bit of tushy grabbing.

All this took place in Plaça de Sant Jaume, crowded wall to wall with spectators, standing on their toes, straining to see over the heads of the people in front of them,  holding their cameras aloft to get that one perfect shot...and then thunderous applause as the towers dismantled themselves in triumph.