The castells

The castells are one of the most original traditions of the catalan folklore, closely linked to the celebrations of popular festivals. They consist in building human towers several stories high by amateur groups, by people seated on top of each other's shoulders. In 2010 Unesco has decided to include the castells in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, emphasizing that the human towers "are recognized by Catalan people as an integral part of their cultural identity, transmitted from generation from generation and providing community members a sense of continuity, social cohesion and solidarity".

The habit of raising human towers in places has a tradition of over 200 years and its origin is in the area of Camp de Tarragona. Over time the castells spread throughout Catalonia and ended up as a symbol of Catalan identity.

The castellers are organized the colles castellers, groups of men and women of all ages who train togetherthe whole year for performances. The groups are distinguished by the color of their shirts. The traditional clothing of casteller includes colored shirt printed with the club's coat, white pants, belt and scarf.
In the formation of the "pinya", the crowd that forms the base of the tower, can participate besides the members of colles and their families, in principle, any spontaneous spectator. The "tronc", composed of the stages that rise from the second level, is formed at the bottom by strong men on which they rest sleeker young people. The "pom de dalt", section formed by the top three levels of the tower, it is formed by kids. The towers must have from six to ten storeys.
Every two years, in even years, it is held in Tarragona the Castells Competition. During the first weekend in October at the Tarraco Arena Plaza they gather the most important casteller groups in the attempt to be crowned with the title of the best of Catalonia.