The castells (human towers) festival in El Catllar, one of the smallest squares in the castells world, is today the stage for a historic event. The invited teams, Castellers de Vilafranca, Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls, and Colla Jove Xiquets de Tarragona, have prepared repertoires featuring the highest difficulty levels, including several extra-difficulty proposals.
The event began with three 'pilars de dol' (pillars of mourning), an emotional gesture in memory of Manel Huguet, known as Gatsby, a historic casteller for Castellers de Vilafranca and currently part of their technical team, who passed away this week at the age of 68.
The teams' ambitions are high. Vilafranca aims to complete two 'castells amb l'agulla' (castells with a central pillar) and the 5d9f. The Colla Vella seeks the clean 4d9f, the 5d9f, and to recover the 4d9fp. Meanwhile, the Jove de Tarragona intends to debut the 4d9fa, in addition to adding the already completed 2d9fm and 5d9f. All three groups hope to conclude the festival with the pilar de 8 (8-level pillar).
Despite the inherent challenges of the limited space in the town square of El Catllar, the three teams have decided to take on the challenge of performing extra-difficulty castells, demonstrating their skill and commitment to increasing difficulty in the castells tradition.
