{"id":4224,"date":"2014-09-26T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2014-09-26T10:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rhworldimagery.wordpress.com\/?p=4224"},"modified":"2015-04-02T15:42:44","modified_gmt":"2015-04-02T15:42:44","slug":"human-towers-of-catalonia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robertharding.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/26\/human-towers-of-catalonia\/","title":{"rendered":"The human towers of Catalonia"},"content":{"rendered":"

This September Barcelona’s huge street festival, Festes de la Merce, featured giant human towers in the city’s main plaza. But this gravity defying\u00a0spectacle\u00a0is not limited to the festival. This\u00a0Catalan tradition can be seen throughout the year in competitions and public\u00a0events\u00a0and\u00a0dates back to the 18th century.<\/p>\n

Colla Joves Xiquets de Valls ‘Castellers’ building human tower (Lucas Vallecillos\/Robert Harding)<\/p>\n

\"Colla<\/a><\/p>\n

The base of the tower is the ‘Pinya’, a ring of people, onto which the weight of the load above is distributed (Lucas Vallecillos\/Robert Harding)<\/p>\n

\"Colla<\/a><\/p>\n

The tower begins (Lucas Vallecillos\/Robert Harding)<\/p>\n

\"Colla<\/a><\/p>\n

Onlookers watch the building of the human tower or castle (Lucas Vallecillos\/Robert Harding)<\/p>\n

\"Colla<\/a><\/p>\n

There are three definite parts to a castle; the\u00a0pinya (base) the\u00a0tronc (trunk) and the pom de dalt (the crown) (Lucas Vallecillos\/Robert Harding)<\/p>\n

\"Minyons<\/a><\/p>\n

Building the tower\u00a0requires a great preparation and teamwork (Lucas Vallecillos\/Robert Harding)<\/p>\n

\"Xiquets<\/a><\/p>\n

The tronc\u00a0consists of 1 to 9 people on each level depending on the castle\u00a0(Lucas Vallecillos\/Robert Harding)<\/p>\n

\"Castellers<\/a><\/p>\n

`Enxaneta’, the last child who, on reaching the\u00a0of the human tower\u00a0salutes the crowd\u00a0(Lucas Vallecillos\/Robert Harding)<\/p>\n

\"`Enxaneta\u00ac\u00a5girl<\/a><\/p>\n

Only children are allowed to form the top of the tower, because of their low weight.\u00a0(Lucas Vallecillos\/Robert Harding)<\/p>\n

\"Minyons<\/a><\/p>\n

Colla Joves Xiquets de Valls ‘Castellers’\u00a0carefully climb up (Lucas Vallecillos\/Robert Harding)<\/p>\n

\"Colla<\/a><\/p>\n

Each tower is erected following very precise techniques and every castle is a law unto itself (Juergen Richter\/Robert Harding)<\/p>\n

\"Castellers,<\/a><\/p>\n

See more photos of human towers here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This September Barcelona’s huge street festival, Festes de la Merce, featured giant human towers in the city’s main plaza. But this gravity defying\u00a0spectacle\u00a0is not limited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[212,372,373,510,950,992],"class_list":["post-4224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-curiosities","tag-catalonia","tag-festes-de-la-merce","tag-festival","tag-human-tower","tag-september","tag-spain"],"yoast_head":"\nThe human towers of Catalonia - robertharding<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.robertharding.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/26\/human-towers-of-catalonia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The human towers of Catalonia - robertharding\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This September Barcelona’s huge street festival, Festes de la Merce, featured giant human towers in the city’s main plaza. 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