Last Sunday, I did not need to get out of bed to understand that the weather was not very good for human towers (castells). The sound of our outdoor furniture dancing around on the balcony revealed how hard the wind was blowing. This was the ‘Day of the Xicots de Vilafranca’. It should be my first performance in Catalonia’s number one human tower square (la plaça més castellera) and also an opportunity for us, the Bordegassos, to make an attempt at constructions of eight levels, so you can understand how disappointed I was.
Some hours later, up in Vilafranca, when the Xicots made their entry into the plaça de la Vila , we were still not sure what would happen since hard winds obviously make it much more difficult to assemble castells, but then it was decided that we should give it a try. Strangely enough, this day, also called la Diada del Roser, developed into the best performance 2009 for two of the three teams present.
The Xicots from Vilafranca started in a strong way by assembling and dismantling a 4de8 (descarregat) and then, after a not-completed attempt (intent desmuntat) managed to build a 3de8 (carregat). This was a great achievement, since 2007 was the last time this team managed to build two towers of eight levels during one and the same performance. The Xicots rounded off with a 4de7 amb l’agulla and a pilar feminí – five levels of women and girls standing on each others shoulders.
For us, the Bordegassos de Vilanova, the fact that many of the children (canalla) were sick forced us to adjust our plans. However, by assembling a torre de 7 (our second one for 2009, unfortunately ending in the most dramatic fall I have experienced so far) and then assembling and dismantling a 5de7 and a 4de7 amb l’agulla, we reached our best combined result this year.
The third team, the Castellers de Rubí, struggled hard to erect a torre de 6. They never managed, but assembled and dismantled a 3de6 and a 4de6, which means that they, at least, repeated their earlier 2009 top results.
To sum up, our determination was stronger than the wind and we had a very rewarding day of human towers, above all thanks to some brave children.
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N.B.: The Xicots de Vilafranca - in red shirts – are very good but still behind the Castellers de Vilafranca – in green shirts – from the same town.
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Technorati tags: Castellers, Catalonia, Human Towers, Penedès, Vilafranca, Vilanova
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