2023-08-06 08:30:00
The men below, the women above, the children at the top of the Castell: an 8-meter-high human tower is formed, and undone, in a few minutes, a Catalan tradition that combines “strength, balance, courage and good meaning”, according to their motto.
Dressed in white pants, a green shirt, lower back held by a large black belt, the Castellers del Riberal grit their teeth, sometimes pitching but the solid alignment allows Ilyess Jorio, 9, to climb, to stand still at the top of the seven tier formation and extend one arm in victory.
Without boasting, the boy wearing a white helmet dotted with four-leaf clovers says he is “proud” to have taken on the role of “Enxaneta” and to have brought the final touch, “thanks to the others”, relativizes- he. His father Ali Jorio, Moroccan and “Catalan by adoption”, kisses him to congratulate him.
“It’s very technical, we rehearse twice a week. It takes a lot of training to give confidence to the children who crown the work of the group”, highlights Hervé Pi, the founder of the Castellers del Riberal, main group in the French part of Catalonia.
With family
Les Castellers is often a family affair. His daughter Laura has been the “Cap de colla” for four years, the leader of the troupe. And the parents of young Ilyess are also pillars of the group.
“Les Castells is a symbol of Catalan culture. It’s a way to celebrate this identity and standardize the use of Catalan. And to show the strength of the group, by mixing generations”, highlights Laura Pi, 34, who issues all the instructions in Catalan.
At the Feria de Millas, near Perpignan, the first weekend in August, Laura, who has been wearing the green shirt since the age of 8, brought together 107 members of the association, from 6 to 70 years old.
The more spirited are placed at the base. At each level, the Castellers form a circle holding each other by the shoulders.
Around the Castell, the “pinya” grips the buttocks and legs of the first two levels to ensure the solidity of the formation and cushion a possible fall. “The pinya is the guarantee, the all-risk insurance”, underlines Henri Pi.
“We have fewer injuries than in football,” he said, anxious to twist received ideas about the danger of discipline.
Boom of the JO-1992
In the crowd attending the demonstration, Régis Barnole, 65, savors the moment: “It’s an impressive spectacle. And it allows Catalanity to live and continue”.
The tradition of Castells, listed by Unesco as an intangible heritage of humanity, appeared at the end of the 17th century in Valls, a small town 100 km from Barcelona, where it opposes city dwellers and rural people.
The great demonstration of Castells during the opening ceremony of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 revived this tradition, weakened during the Franco dictatorship.
Created in 1997 in this dynamic, in Baho, near Perpignan, the troupe of Castellers del Riberal has 120 members. “We have Catalans of course, but it’s very open, this year we had a Ch’ti, Parisians, a Malian and an Afghan”.
“It’s a standard, a marker of Catalan culture. In northern Catalonia (Pyrénées-Orientales, editor’s note), it’s successful. It’s a way of integrating into local Catalan culture”, underlines Ala Baylac Ferrer , director of the faculty of Catalan at the University of Perpignan.
06/08/2023 08:29:24 – Millas (France) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
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