Concurs de Castells is a human tower competition that is held every year during October in Tarragona, Spain. This artistic sport dates back to the 18th century and to be more precise towards the end of it. It is the ultimate display of unity and teamwork and the team consists of people from the age group of 5-95. This is definitely a bigger umbrella and the challenge in accommodating the higher and lower ends of it and is the true challenge of this teamwork display. Dress is another important element of the event, all the people participating in the event wear a beautiful and bright color dress as a uniform. The bright color is also because it reflects the bright and splendid spirits of the people.
Formation
The sport needs to be performed with a constant focus on teamwork, rules, and particular techniques. The base which is called the pinna is made with hundreds of people who also act as a safety net to hold when anyone from the upper tower falls. The formation of the tower has a variety of layers. Castell in Catalan translates to the castle, so the people forming this tower or castle are called the Castellers. The whole castle is formed in two phases, at first they form the base, and then slowly the people designated to climb above move to take their places. This takes time and needs to be done smoothly and patiently. But a castell is ‘aixecat per sota’ which means that it is formed from the base so it is the base that takes much time and the upper layers try to make it quick so as to avoid putting any pressure on the people in the lower layers.
Attire
The teams wear white trousers which is common for all of them and then the t-shirts are different for each team with the emblem for their own team embedded in the center of the t-shirts. The t-shirts are bright in color and are worn with a black sash called the faixa, this is what holds the whole attire together. The sash definitely makes the whole attire look good but it is not just limited to the looks, it actually supports the back. The length of the faixa varies from person to person, it ranges from 2m-wide to 12 meters. The higher the person is placed in the castell the shorter is the width of the sash and the lower the person is placed in the castell the longer is the width of the sash. This is because the people in the lower layer of the castle need more support to hold the whole castell together. This attire is not matched with shoes or any kind, in fact, it is performed barefoot so as to avoid any injuries and to ensure proper grip when forming the castell.
Structure
The structure of the castell is multi-tiered or you can call it multi-layered. The layers can be nine to ten people number long. As the tower grows the number of people in each tower also decreases. On the topmost layer, only the youngest and the lightest is placed so as to ensure the stability of the tower. The formation of the tower symbolizes a few mottos. Those are strength, balance, courage, and common sense. The base of the tower is formed with people who are broad and sturdily built and as the tower rises it is placed with people who are agile. The first-ever human tower was built by peasants and they were habituated to carrying great weights and had enormous strength. So the base represented strength. Forming a castell is not an easy task if one struggles in balancing. However this also goes in the direction of trust, one needs to trust that the person below them supporting them is able to hold on to their own balance and also support theirs. Each casteller needs a great deal of courage to just show up, let alone perform the whole act. Any and every participant of the Concurs de Castells needs to be equipped with a lot of courage. The last motto is common sense and common sense is required in the planning and formation that goes into this.
There is always the probability of someone or the other getting hurt and safety concerns are a must. During the festival, one can spot many ambulances parked in and around in case situations. In the event of 2011, a man broke his second cervical vertebrae after falling from the human tower. There also have been other few instances of fatal injuries however with the basic mottos being followed sincerely one can avoid these fatalities. This event is a treat for the eyes as one can witness the uniformity that it is performed with. It is fascinating how the event was celebrated year after year without a miss, passed from one generation to another.
