On Sunday (2nd October) the ‘human tower’ competition took place in the Catalonian city of Tarragona. Teams compete to create the tallest and most intricate ‘castells’, which are only considered successful if they can be assembled and then dismantled without anyone taking a tumble! The competitors are called ‘castellers’ and many of them really take the competition seriously.fiefiefiest
The most usual technique is to put the strongest members of each team at the bottom and the lightest (some of which are children) at the top. Children competing have to wear helmets for safety, which are hard on the inside and soft on the outside. This protects the casteller but also prevents injuries to others if they should fall from the top of the tower.
With each team wearing its own colours, the whole crowd together is a really amazing sight! This year’s winners were the ‘Castellers de Villafranca’.