Cuckoo for Castellers

When I was doing research for this trip, I came upon references to castellers. It seemed familiar,  and I vaguely remembered that it was something about building a human tower. I looked and looked to see if I could find somewhere to see this, but it seemed to be out of the usual season for their performances.  I mentioned that there was a holiday while I was in Tarragona,  it was the National day for the region, pretty much like the 4th of July for them.

After I heard about the festival, I went and asked at reception what the festivities would be. She told me there would be speeches and partying and lots of food and drinking, kind of a normal festival I guess. Then I asked her if there might be castellers,  and she said "Yes, of course". Oh wow, now I was in the mood for a festival! I found out that it would take place on the steps and in the plaza of the Cathedral. I already knew just how to get there. I showed up at the appointed time of noon, and took a seat on the Cathedral steps.

First there was a short speech by a man who I guessed was the mayor, then  a long, long long speech by a woman who seemed to be an activist (there is a lot going on around Barcelona in politics with a resistance to the central government in Macrid). She got them all fired up and raising their fists and then there was a lot of really loud chanting. I don't know what they were saying, but they said it with meaning. Then there was an a capella group, who sang fine, but they ended with what had to be the local version of the national anthem. Everyone got up as soon as it started, so I did too. They got a little rowdy at the end and there were lots of raised fists in the air. I just tried not to make eye contact with anyone and studied my shoe.

Finally that part was over and people began to go up the steps in front of the Cathedral.  I very quickly followed and found a good spot in front of the Cathedral doors. Soon after, a small band came down the street towards the plaza. All the people that followed were dressed in lilac shirts. Then came another little band with green shirts,  then one with pink and white stripes, and finally I think it was a blue group. The plaza is not large and suddenly it was incredibly packed with all of these people. I couldn't quite figure out what was going on. There were so many people of each color, especially the lilac people who were at least a hundred. I guess I should have Googled it before I got there!

So then all of these people start wrapping a long,  black cloth around their middle, kind of a girdle effect. I couldn't imagine why. Then they put a red bandanna on their heads and I was still thinking that I couldn't understand why they needed so many people. Now the lilac people are all around me, I'm nearly flattened against the wall of the Cathedral. All of a sudden, one man starts yelling at them all. They formed a massive circle of bodies all sardined in together. Then he gave more directions and they all put their arms in the air and yelled something...he gave another direction and the outside people began to push as hard as they could to make the circle even tighter, and then I realized it had started!

This was how it began, then bodies came up and over and began to form the tower. I was nearly a casteller, I was so close to them. They built layer upon layer, the people getting a little smaller as it grew in size, and finally little tiny girls, no more than 5 or 6 years old climbed all the way up and became the top of the tower. There was a huge celebration below as they succeeded in the task. I was just blown away by it. I stayed to watch the other groups, but no one matched the lilac group. I went away so happy that I was able to see this tradition enacted right in front of me. I was a little giggly for a bit.