jazzeum
Four Star General
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2005
- Messages
- 38,433
See video below:
It took the child about a minute to scramble up the wobbly human tower, more than three stories tall. He paused for a few precarious seconds, to steady himself, before raising his hand to thunderous applause from the crowds packed into this town’s main square.
The spectacle was part of a festival last month in Valls, the birthplace of the castells, as the human towers are called in Catalan, a tradition established here in 1801 and developed out of a folkloric dance.
Since then, the castells have only become taller and more complex — risking collapse as they employ as many as 600 people, sometimes in nine or 10 tiers of participants who bind their strength in an elaborate interweaving of arms and bodies.
Recently the castells have taken on new significance and popularity as Catalonia presses to break away from Spain, reinvigorating a sense of pride and identity.
http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000003222118/catalonians-climb-high-to-exhibit-pride.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=timesvideo-heading&module=watch-in-times-video®ion=video-player-region&WT.nav=video-player-region
It took the child about a minute to scramble up the wobbly human tower, more than three stories tall. He paused for a few precarious seconds, to steady himself, before raising his hand to thunderous applause from the crowds packed into this town’s main square.
The spectacle was part of a festival last month in Valls, the birthplace of the castells, as the human towers are called in Catalan, a tradition established here in 1801 and developed out of a folkloric dance.
Since then, the castells have only become taller and more complex — risking collapse as they employ as many as 600 people, sometimes in nine or 10 tiers of participants who bind their strength in an elaborate interweaving of arms and bodies.
Recently the castells have taken on new significance and popularity as Catalonia presses to break away from Spain, reinvigorating a sense of pride and identity.
http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000003222118/catalonians-climb-high-to-exhibit-pride.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=timesvideo-heading&module=watch-in-times-video®ion=video-player-region&WT.nav=video-player-region
Last edited:
