Timber rafters celebrate record female participation in latest river descent 

The 36th Timber Rafters Coll de Nargó Descent was held on Friday, a day earlier than expected, due to the rain forecast for this Saturday.

Aleix Ferrer, president of the Cultural Association of Rafters of the Ribera del Segre, celebrated that this year the group had seven male and five female rafters, a record number of women participating in the tradition.

The rains of recent days have meant that the Segre River has a good flow of water which in turn has facilitated the descent of the rafts.

Two boats made a journey of about two kilometers under the watchful eyes of hundreds of people gathered on the banks of the Segre River.

The festival is held to remember the ancestral trade of transporting wood from the forests of the Pyrenees to the sea.

UNESCO intangible cultural heritage status

The timber rafters of Catalonia, along with some other communities across Europe, were awarded UNESCO intangible cultural heritage status in December 2022. 

A joint application was put forward by Austria, Czechia, Germany, Latvia, Poland and Spain, involving forty local timber rafting associations.

Their aim with the application was to preserve the centuries-old method of river transport and pay tribute to all the people down through the years who dedicated their lives to it.

In Catalonia, the raiers (timber rafters in Catalan) in the towns of La Pobla de Segur and Pont de Claverol – on the Noguera Pallaresa river – and Coll de Nargó – on the Segre – believe that achieving this prestigious recognition will help preserve the tradition.

Timber rafting, according to the application submitted to UNESCO, involves traditional knowledge and skills on the construction and navigation of rafts on inland waters. The practice includes constructing wooden rafts, transporting logs, and knowledge of nature. 

Cultivated in local communities living in villages and towns located near rivers, streams, lakes, or shores, it originated in the Middle Ages when rafts were used to transport logs, firewood, goods, and people using natural water flows.

Although there are no set rules for the selection, preparation and binding of the timber, or for navigation methods, all rafters share a similar lifestyle, specific vocabulary, and habits passed down from generation to generation over the centuries. 

Transporting goods by river using wooden rafts was, for centuries, a way of life, but by the early 20th century it had all but disappeared in many parts of the world as dams were built and trucks began to appear.