Unbounded

Human towers had an important appointment today with the celebration of one of the major festivals in the world of human towers (or castells as they are called in Catalan): Sant Fèlix. Every year on August 30 some of Catalonia’s best teams compete against each other to build the most impressive human towers. Sant Fèlix is celebrated in Vilafranca del Penedès southwest of Barcelona and it is indeed a day to follow the castellers closely.

On UNESCO's List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity 

The castells, or human towers as they are called in English, are a common sight at Catalan festivals. Teams compete against each other to create the most elaborate human tower constructions. It is one of Catalonia's more unusual spectacles, which was, in fact, added to UNESCO's list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010. The Catalan tradition dates back to the 18th century and originates in a Valencian gymnastic dance. In the 1980s the human towers tradition spread to Northern Catalonia in the French Pyrenees and the Balearic Islands as well.   

Human towers are said to be a symbol of Catalan identity. The tradition is based on four key elements—Strength, balance, courage, and sanity—which are essential for successfully building a tower, which can be up to 10 human stories high. Human towers are indeed an impressive sight of men, women and children working together as they climb their way toward the sky with a small child usually at the very top and no other support than one another. Impressively, the castellers make it look easy, effortless. 

Beating records

Today’s Sant Fèlix festival had the pressure of the previous record-breaking Sant Fèlix festival in 2016, in which the four participating teams—Minyons de Terrassa, Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls, Colla Joves Xiquets de Valls and the Castellers de Vilafranca—built some of the most complicated constructions possible.

10 story-high human towers

This year’s Sant Felix looked like it was going to be another record breaker from the beginning. The local Castellers de Vilafranca began their turn by building the highest possible human tower, of 10 stories with three people on each level. While the local team performed some of the most difficult human towers during the four hours of the festival, they didn't manage to pull off what they had planned.  

The Minyons de Terrassa also came to the festival aiming to build a 10-story human tower, but they were unable to do so. In fact, the only team who completed the established schedule was the Colla Joves Xiquets de Valls who managed to raise a human tower in all of the rounds. On the other hand, the other team from the town Valls, the Colla Vella dels Xiquets, built some very difficult constructions, but not the 10-story castell.