HUMAN TOWERS(“CASTELLS”)

TRADITIONAL SPORT FROM CATALONIA AND VALENCIAN

COUNTRY

DIFFERENT TRADITIONAL SPORTS IN SPAIN

• Spain diversity consists of different areas, where everyone has their own culture and traditional sport.

• Here you are some of them:

Basque Ball and Aizkolaris both are from Euskadi (Basque Country)

Canary Fight (“Lucha canaria”) from Canary Islands.

HUMAN TOWERS FROM CATALONIA AND VALENCIAN COUNTRY

• “Els castells” (Human Towers) are only a tradition in Catalonia and Valencian country

• Some people say that castellers (people who make Castells) are crazy, because it could be a bit dangerous.

The Human Tower origin

• There are several opinions about the origins of human towers.

• Some people think that they have a prehistoric origin, when iberian ( a very old civilisation in Iberian Peninsula) used to attack enemies settlements.

• Other people say that they have a religious origin. In religious festivals, some dancers finished their dances making human figures as an offer to Virgin Mary.

THE TOWER COMPOSITION

• The Human Towers are made by women and men of different ages, and they have to work together.

• The oldest people are situated on the bottom and the younger ones on the top.

• In the last years the “anxaneta” has to use a helmet, because there were some sad accidents in the past

The boy or girl on the top of the tower is called “Anxaneta”. They usually are 6 or 7 years old.

The base (“La pinya”)

• One of the most important parts of the castells is “la pinya”, the base. It holds all the tower.

• The castellers teams are really big. But sometimes people from the audience help them to make “la pinya”.

Here you can see some examples

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IZ7CaGNI6w

Sometimes the castellers only can raise the tower but the success is to raise and also to go down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzKQeiV4wBc&feature=related

Making a human tower is a team effort and the most popular phrase that describes the qualities of a good casteller is: strength, balance, courage and wisdom.