The Castellers de Mallorca (from Palma), the Al·lots de Llevant (from Manacor) and the Minyons de Terrassa (from Catalunya) met in Palma last Saturday for the XII Diada de los Castellers de Mallorca. The Minyons de Terrassa group came to Palma with 220 participants; they managed a number of torres (human towers), including one of nine tiers. The Al·lots de Llevant managed various castells of four, five and seven levels. The balancing act of erecting human castells requires utmost concentration, a fair amount of courage, plus companionship and sound solidarity amongst the participating members.

One day, you should go and watch the castellers’ tradition of strength and balance being performed, if you ever have the opportunity. In fact, I was told that anyone could join the Al·lots group in Manacor, or at least turn up and watch one of their practising efforts in Manacor. Meeting point is every Wednesday at 19h30 and every Saturday at 19h00 in Carrer Nou, no. 5. Or else you could telephone 687.967.644 for more information about this group, or about any of the other ones in Mallorca, perhaps nearer to your home.

The photo (top) was taken in Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: August 28th, 2010. The time was 19:52:26. The photo (bottom) shows the Minyons performing a castell of nine tiers in Barcelona last September. The image was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of Minyons.cat.

Moltes gràcies.