Castells – incredible human towers that will take your breath away

Castells (trans castles or more freely human towers) are one of the specific Catalan customs. You can often run into them during one of the big ones celebrations or holidays, which are held annually in the city. 

Parade castells in Barcelona
Human Towers (castells) in Sant Jaume Square in Barcelona during the fetival La Mercè

It is such a unique tradition that UNESCO decided to include it in the list of intangible heritage of humanity in 2010. 

But what castells are they actually? 

What does a human tower look like?Castells are imposing human towers formed by acrobats in colorful costumes.  

Below each tower we find a circular base made up of the biggest strongmen. Other people then stand on their shoulders, creating a floor. And so it continues on and on, until the resulting tower is perhaps 10 meters. 

The lightest boy or girl then climbs to the very top of the tower and creates the so-called crown (enxaneta). The goal is to stand upright for at least 3 seconds - if this is done, the construction of the castle has been successful and the team castellers is rewarded with thunderous applause from the audience. 

The most common towers have between six and ten floors. 

There are of course different types of towers that they classify according to two criteria: 

  1. The number of people participating in the construction of the tower
  2. The number of floors the tower has

The interesting thing is that castells they do not only have a sporting or acrobatic meaning, but it is also a symbol of team spirit, solidarity and belonging, because people of different races, religions, social classes and, of course, age often meet within the framework of one tower. It is actually similar to the sardana dance. 

Where to see castells? 

As I mentioned, tradition castells today it is a part of almost every major holiday or festival. 

If you want to see if there are any appearances by chance castells not taking place in Barcelona (or any other city), visit the website when you're there castells.cat, where you can find a clear calendar of all upcoming performances.

Concurs Castells show in Tarragona
Concurs Castells - one of the biggest shows in Tarragona

One of the biggest annual events and parades of human towers (Castells Concurs) takes place at the end of October in Tarragona in the former Tarraco Arena bullring. 

Do you know that they have other interesting customs and traditions in Catalonia? For example giant figures called gegants or correfoc, running with fire. 

Where do castells come from?

  • The construction of human towers first appeared in local folklore in the 18th century.
  • The region of Camp de Tarragona is considered the cradle of this custom, from where it has spread to all other parts over the years Catalonia.

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