Casteller Article (Catalan News)

Éxtasis Casteller

In an article of La Vanguardia entitled "Éxtasis Casteller" by Esteve Giralt, it talks about the human towers and the world castell competition. All of the castellers from around the world come to compete in this competition. The Concurs de Castells took place in Tarraco Arena Placa with thirty-two teams competing. The article states that there were around six thousand castellers and more than five thousand spectators. Los verdes de Vilafranca won the competition by receiving the best "puntuación" in the history of the competition. It stated that they beat the second place team by more than double. I could not imagine getting to see this competition in person. I was lucky to see some castells during La Mercé Being a casteller seems like it would be very difficult. Some castellers came into one of my other classes to teach us about the tradition and actually demonstrated it for us. They said that they have to practice countless hours to perfect the tower. I learned that they wear this tight wrap around there mid section, not just for looks, but as a place to stick there foot when climbing. It makes it a little easier to climb up the body. Also, the balance the castellers have to have is amazing. If one person moves to suddenly then the whole tower could come down. During La Mercé it was cool to see how quiet the area got as people held their breath while the tower grew. Then, after the child reached the top, the crowd went crazy and there was such joy in the castellers faces. I could not imagine seeing this atmosphere amplified for the world competition, especially when history was made. From the pictures in the paper, there looks like there is a sea of different colors and not an empty seat in the stadium. It just shows how important castells are to the culture of this area. People take such pride in this. It was very evident, from the faces of the castellers and spectators, of what this meant to them. It would have been an amazing experience to be able to witness the competition in person.