These Death-Defying Human Towers Build on Catalan Tradition | Short Film Showcase
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ส.ค. 2024
- Catalonia is ruled by the Spanish government, but its people have been constructing independent kingdoms for centuries. By climbing up backs and balancing on shoulders, Catalonians of all ages stack their bodies on-top each other to build castells, or human towers. The structures are not typical fortresses-notably, they are made of flesh and bone rather than sandstone or granite-but their strong foundations serve as a unifying force for many Catalonians.
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Read about the tradition of building castells.
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Read more in "These death-defying human towers build on Catalan tradition"
on.natgeo.com/31juv83
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These Death-Defying Human Towers Build on Catalan Tradition | Short Film Showcase
• These Death-Defying Hu...
National Geographic
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The practice was first documented in 1801 as a cultural activity and became a competition in the 1980s. To learn more, you can read on here: on.natgeo.com/31juv83
Can you give me one ❤️ heart please?
Hi Nat, I read the link of your comment, and the first sentece say: "Catalonia is known for its sea-side markets (la boqueria), gothic architecture -- championed by Antoni Gaudí -" Gaudi is a modernist architect, not gothic.
Nice short film. It is unfortunate that it becomes politicized with the first two sentences that do not follow the theme of the video.
You should be ashamed of yourself NAT GEO. you are propagating lies being told by the Catalan Separatist movement. The following statement is grossly inaccurate "Catalonia is ruled by the Spanish government, but its people have been constructing independent kingdoms for centuries." Catalonia is autonomic state within the kingdom of Spain which has a constitutional monarchy which guarantees its autonomy. Cataluña was never a kingdom EVER. It first appeared as a region under french protection as a buffer between moorish Spain and France. It was called the "marca hispanica." (Imagine that it's first name ever has the name hispanic in it, not Spanish at all lol). It later became incorporated into the Kingdom of Aragon through marriage. It was the Kingdom of Aragon that built an mediterranean empire which Catalunya was a part of and didn't really have a leadership role in the evolution of the kingdom
@@malvarez8484 that's completely inaccurate, please reread the story
The smiles of those little angles at the end. Beautiful.. Stay safe stay strong and god bless the ppl of Catalan ... love from Australia..
This is life. This is a community. Where every individual is unique but at the same time we cant live without eachother. And when we fall there is no fault but only love. This is real connecting. Where your skin, religion, job, wealth doesnt have a place. And in that moment we can make something pure, beautiful and breathtaking 💓
Thanks for this wonderful short documentary. It helps a lot to explain abroad what Castells represent to us, the Catalans.
looks dangerous
humans: lets do it again
Pero mola😂
Well its fun😂 and its a tradition.
Just look at cars. We travel more than 65mph and at those speeds you could easily die and yet we do it every day.
actually it just "look" dangerous...
Almost every physical sport can be dangerous. And castells are dangerous of getting hurt but not deadly, almost no one ever died doing them.
It is so beautiful and inspiring to see people working together in this way and sometimes you fall but you fall as one. When you succeed you succeed as one. This are human beings acting like human beings and it is beautiful to watch
Sometimes you die yes
I would love to practice this in the us but a lot of people here don’t even know they’re Catalans 🫥
Força, equilibri, valor i seny
I esperit català.
@@eugeniapuypolls1374 l esperit español
@@latifithetruegoat9094 jajaja de eso hay Bien poco
@@hug4759 La mitad de la población no dice lo mismo .
@@andresjavierorellanagonzal9562 tienes Toda la razón. Es la mitad de la población que dice ser catalana pero no le gusta ninguna de las tradiciones catalanas. Todo muy peculiar
This is the greatest thing I've seen in my life.
We're glad you enjoyed watching! If you'd like to learn more, you can read on here: on.natgeo.com/31juv83
Dude there are like people dying
@@ruupnix569 I'm from spain, catalonia, and I can honestly tell you that NO ONE dies while doing human towers..
@@ruupnix569 Well, only 4 people had died doing castells. Believe it or not, it's safer than association football, basketball and handball. Castellers are incredibly trained and they hardly ever fall, that's because they only do the hardest castells when they are 100% sure nothing could go wrong.
@@marleon5820 i dont remember me saying that i-
I love the way that it involves such a mixture of people from the strongest at the base graduating through all the layers to the lightest at the top. What great teams. Brilliant!
5:57 Wow...that coordination, that rythm in everyone's breath🙏
This was incredible. Deeply moving. Very human.
Observers say the practice is symbolic of togetherness, the elimination of class differences, and Catalonia’s welcoming atmosphere. To learn more, you can read on here: on.natgeo.com/31juv83
Catalanonia is amazing. I love my country, the people, the culture♥️
Lol!
"Very human!"
I think only humans were involved in this ceremony.
why interview these people in castillian instead of catalan? when precisely it is said at the beginning that we, catalans, we have had to fight for centuries to preserve our language ..? and when you have subtitles in english ..
Qué maravilla de tradición catalana. Es loable que las antiguas plazas de toros sean ahora usadas para els Castellers. Catalunya de verdad es otra cosa.
Otra cosa que la Patagonia, le doy toda la razón.
@@SergioSovi Otra cosa diferente al estado español, coincido. La Patagonia es igualmente una tierra bellísima. Saludos!
@@raoularte Quizás piensa usted que España es un ente homogéno exceptuando Cataluña? Pocos países europeos me resultan más diversos que España. Una suerte.
@Swamp Thing Yo no lo creo. Ni a los pijos de Madrid.
cataluña tiene tradiciones taurinas muy violentas y yo que soy de aquí te lo puedo asegurar. Por cierto se escribe CataluÑa a menos que estés hablando catalán. Cuantos estereotipos ignorantes...
Strength in trust and unity. Dangerous yet with a very clear positive message. Hope this will never be forgotten. Absolutely beautiful.
I thought we were all doomed but I guess western regions still have hope
What a beautiful short film! This might be my favorite piece of content of yours!
We're happy to hear that you enjoyed watching! If you'd like to learn more, you can read on here: on.natgeo.com/31juv83
" When you are close to castell it's like being next to a beating heart. "
Wow , it sounds so poetic .
" that goes boom boom boom "
😂
Jokes apart , it was really a beautiful experience to watch this ,it indeed felt like watching a living poetry, kudos to their bravery especially those little kids. It taught me about a beautiful culture , their unity and courage . I'm happy it is declared as a cultural heritage by UNESCO .
We Indians also make human towers in schools and playgrounds to celebrate the birth of lord Krishna . I think this is part of some cultures around the world to celebrate things they believe in , it makes me happy and feel connected to them .
As a Catalan, can ' t help crying when I see Castells .. so touching and maravelous 💕
Thank you for sharing this beauty with the world. What a marvelous tradition, bringing communities together and creating such a marvel of human potential.
I love this one. the story is told nicely. the cinematography is great. oh how much i love the color grading, it's so beautiful
I'm from Vilafranca del Penedès (the green castellers waaay better than Terrasaa ones psst haha) and i loved this video. I feel very proud of this tradition, and glad that you made this documentary to show the rest of the world why we do this, you pictured the spirit behind it perfectly. I'm so glad to see in the comments that people find this tradition as beautiful as we think it is.
Pit i ovaris, visca la terra!
My grandfather helped to build the statue that appears in the 4:23 minute
jajaja. I'm from terrassa, de purple castellera. and we've been much better than the vilafranca. who did the first 4 de 10? amb amori carinyo des de terrassa. A veure si tornem a pujar ben amunt i competir com abans
This is how I imagine humans first tried to reach the sky back when they started worshipping gods
** that would be cool but i always imagined that they left the gods alone. mt. olympus was possible to climb for ancient greeks but everyone kinda just, didnt. people just minded their business really and left it to their faith.
Only the ignorant arrogant ones tried that.
It's thought that castells derive from a custom of religious processions which included human figures representing religious iconography, although today castells have no religious meaning.
The similar Indian custom of Govindas represents an episode from the childhood of the god Krishna.
It seems like you're the arrogant one around here.
When you are close to a castell it's like being close to a beating heart, this is so so true, when they are finishing the castell you can hear all the breaths stopping at once, people containing their breath and then when it goes whell everybody starting to scream and going to "live" again, it's a really magical moment
I'm in Tarragona and definitely I will watch these castells on the place of the Cathedral.
I hope you liked it
Thanks, National Geographic.
Such a beautiful reminder of what we can accomplish together. Hard to imagine in today's society, especially in the U.S...Amazing video 👏🏼😊
❤ я под впечатлением .
Фильм потрясающий.
Oh my god..Perfect Amazing💜
THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL SHORT FILM! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ARTISTRY!
Hola Carissa
Freedom for Catalonia
Catalonia is not Spain
Spain is a fascist state
INDEPENDENCIA
I could never trust another human this much.
Good film Nat Geo, but you put too much focus on the bad side (falls and the danger), you made it too dramatic. It is NOT that dangerous, nor exactly "death-defying".
Its stupid nevertheless lol
@@TheJukkis why? You think sports are stupid because there is some danger of getting injuried? Facepalm
@@nixxxon18 I bet he thinks being stuffed on a sofa is safer for his health...
One thing missing at the top is a Dahi Handi. 😉
These are true professionals and their team knows all the risks involved in it. Kudos to them for continuing their culture! 😍
Sale India me dekh ke Gaye honge or Bolte hain aur culture 😂 kabhi ao bharat
Why don't u put that dahi shii on urself?? Exactly stfu
Castellers and govindas have actually been collaborating a lot in recent years! A govinda team came to Tarragona for the 2018 castells contest. There's a great documentary on Vimeo called "Melting Pot" about when a castells team from Barcelona went to Mumbai to participate in the Dahi Handi festival.
KAWAHI LEONARD well dahi is a cold dairy product and right now you have a dire need to put that on your butts...........butthurt moron...🤣🤣🤣
I'm also an Indian and can understand what you was trying to say but I still think that you should have phrased your words better about the Dahi Handi, it's not part of their culture to put a Dahi handi so there is nothing missing here .
Just INCREDIBLE! the amount of trust and practice needed would of been out of this world! nice one!
Hard to believe people can do this but we saw it with our own eyes in a plaza in Barcelona. Amazing documentary!
Great video!!
This one had me tearing up for every emotional reason I can think of. Absolutely powerful on so many levels.
Kinda sad they didn't do these interviews or voice-overs in Catalan, they should've been able to speak in their own language…
Agreed
Yeah but 70% of us catalans speak mainly spanish
@@BmuXD not the ones in the video, you can tell catalan is their first language
@@gispertnuriaCatalan is also my first language, yknow? 30% is not that low of a percentage
visca Catalunya lliure! les nostres tradicions mai moriran! despertaferro!
*These people are better at balancing*
than I balance responsibilities
Duchi hilarious
The world needs more NatGeo! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Thanks you guys!
Que belleza de tradición y video. Gracias ♥️✌️
Amazing! what courage they have
I liked the short film, what i disliked is the title, it gives the impresion that ggreat injures are common in the castells, witch is not
This is a typical Dhai Handi night every year in India. Reminds me so much of the Dhai handi festival...
Yes! It's amazing that humans even if we are different and far away we can still have some similar traditions and emotions! That's called humanity and it's beautiful 🥰
Imagine if they stay like that for 50 years straight
Just What ? ? ?
And I can barely carry my baby sister on my back this is so amazing!
He said, it's for eveyone, you could be a baker, a doctor, or a popsicle.
He said "paleta" which means a construction worker, "paleto" is used to say someone is dumb (the word is related to the job, that's why its a bit offensive), but here he said paleta referring the job lmao (idk if whith popsicle u meant dumb or smth else srry)
this is not latin american dialect, paleta means construction worker not pospsicle
This is beautifully shot and very informative, but I find it weird that they chose to interview these people in Spanish when they are well aware of the link between castells and the catalan language
Yeah but in catalonia we speak spanish, only a few people are left speaking catalan. Just in schools and offices you are forced to talk catalan. u_u
That is just not true. 4 milion people speak it in a daily basis, even more that castillian@@BmuXD
Porque crees tú que se hacen en castellano? 😂 no es muy difícil de deducir.
@@jeppons1218 Where did you read that?
@@BmuXD first of all, anybody is forced to speak in catalan, ok? Don't say that, please... Second. Catalan is spoken by millions of persons in their dayli lives.
This is amazing
Thank you for this documentary National Geographic. You forgot to mention the gralla and the Toc de castells. This is coming from a Catalan and an American who was born and lives in Tarragona. This year I start university and they have a colla. I will take part in it as a gralla player.
FYI the place where the competition was held was an old bullring which is now used for castells every two years and for concerts. Some “traditions” just don’t fit in the 21st century.
The castells remind me of JFK when he said “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”.
Visca Catalunya lliure!
també han oblidat parlar de les colles internacionals, de les colles de catalunya nord i les illes, i de l'origen dels castells lligat a les muixerangues valencianes... etc
Visca!
Visca Catalunya i Visca Espanya!
Tot bé fins l'última frase.
What a great short film
This is Amazing and feeling deeply touching
Very beautiful video!
This is great completely great.
WOW! Simply amazing and beautiful!
😎💯✌👉💕👈✌💯😎
Knowing me I'd probably be the reason the tower collapses.
Amazing story, thanks for sharing :)
We're glad you enjoyed watching! If you'd like to learn more, you can read on here: on.natgeo.com/31juv83
Fantastic .
Fantastic! What a splendidly human tradition. ❤
I can't look! (Covers her Eyes)
Beautiful video😍
This is deeply moving.
Wow . Absolutely stunning . The determination of those kids !
Kudos to their bravery...
Beautiful traditions
This beauteful ❤❤❤❤
The central metaphor of a great people.
Similar type of practice in Hinduism on Holi
Beautifully made...
Has nobody noticed that they all speak Spanish? Que parlin català, collons
Visca la Terra!
Un altre nacionalista. Què importa l'idioma que parlin amb el documental si l'objectiu es que la cultura catalana arrivi a més gent. Et fot que perquè arrivi a més gent hagin de parlar en castellà?
@@andresjavierorellanagonzal9562 Quin geni diu que l'objectiu (no sé exactament de qui) és el de fer arribar més gent a la cultura catalana? Es tracta de dignitat nacional, i no en tenim, i per això ens fan els documentals en castellà, una llengua estrangera, només considerada altrament degut a la situació política en què ens trobem, perquè els catalanets en qüestió assumeixen que és una llengua més "inclusiva" que la pròpia, que l'ús del castellà farà que els odiïn una mica menys quan els vegin. I em fot, sí, em fot.
What a spectacular. Thank you.
At first when I saw a castell I thought, how is something with such high risk (especially with kids involved) allowed in a developed nation? But then after you listen to the back story you understand why. It just shows the importance of educating yourself and having an open mind before speaking and the story behind it is truly beautiful (although I still think it’s perhaps a bit too unsafe for kids)
First of all, thanks for the effort you put into comprehending castells!
Second, on your worries about children, take into account that only 3% of castells end up falling.
In addition, universities in Catalonia have made a huge effort collaborating to ensure everyones safety. It is calculated that the people at the floor level (the "pinya") absorve (if I remember it well) 60% of the impact compared to a direct impact to the floor.
Even more, a special helmet was designed to protect children. There's only been one death in recent history, it was from a child when these special helmets were still not used, and in a town where, unfortunately, they overestimated the amount of people at the pinya, which was insuficient. Since the helmet's introduction, no other child has died or been severely injured (and adults have not died either).
One last fact, there are more injuries related to children football in Catalonia than to castells! (Although the ones at castells are worse for the adults)
Hope I've given some interesant information! :)
gracias profe karina
Amazing
This brought me to tears
beautiful
Amazing Video 🇮🇳
So beautiful, truly inspiring
Inspiring for what?? Wakwkkwkak 😂😂😂😂. Come oonnn hahahhah
Why have we’ve seen this over a million times but not the world?
Good documentary, the unique claim I have is that I don't understand you made the people speak in Spanish, because is the language that is destroying the Catalan language, and people don't like it,.
show of genius
This is one of my favorite traditions. Spain is such a marvelous country!
CATALONIA IS NOT SPAIN. THE OPRESSION TO CATALONIA COMES FROM SPAIN. FREE CATALONIA
@@lacuinaalcor6851 TABARNIA IS NOT CATALONIA. THE OPRESSION TO TABARNIA COMES FROM CATALONIA. FREE TABARNIA
@@lacuinaalcor6851 Castellers are from Valls - Tabarnia - Spain
@@jangofett7857 que tabarnia ni que hostias, te asusta que las encuestas nos den el 50%? Et dona por saber que Cs caurà i tindria menys escons que el PP? Et dona por saber que aquell ridícul que vau fer ha quedat a l'oblit
@@lacuinaalcor6851 as puxat a algun castell.... ja to dic jo, no segur... ets un barreire, ni saps que vol dir..
Proud to be catalan ✊
No entenc perquè han hagut de narrar el video en castellà si hi ha subtítols en anglès igualment però vaja, el video està molt ben fet.
Tiene sentido. Querrán traer ese vídeo a su tierra y que lo vea su gente.
This is so cool.
I’m also from senora kilps.
But they didn't ask them to speak in catalan for the video! 😢
Jo puc parlar català per tu si vols.
No estic utilitzant traductor ara mateix.
Amazing, 😲 wished I could’ve read what was being said.
To read more about this tradition, you can click here: on.natgeo.com/31juv83
Some people like shooting guns for fun some people like to do this, at the end of the day which one kills more people???
Guns
The problem in USA with guns (I assume you are from there) is that at the end of the day the guns doesn't stop shooting, and is not for fun anymore.
Imagine they had to pee
The Fun channel LOL 😂
The Fun channel and pig there nose 👃
The Fun channel rude
Imagine peing down it and distracting the people at the base
This might be the end of this TH-cam comment 😭 only if I had reinforcements
This is so nicr
El Castillo es algo ermoso de los cielos
incredibile che bella cosa culturale
Synchronous breathing..
How many people does it take to change a street light bulb?
275
I don’t why but it is so touched😢
WOW!
So need to play the board game now!
Wow is all i can say
my school can't open the video rn lol
Un documental muy hermoso. Igual de bello que la gente catalana
ayy gracias 😵❤
Any kid who plays soccer in a team since childhood suffers more damage than a casteller child ... how much hypocrisy
I’ve never seen a bunch of kids hauled away from a soccer field with neck braces. I’d love to see a link to your statistics. I’m sure some kids get hurt worse but saying any kid who play from a young age seems just silly. I played soccer through varsity and never had a need for a neck brace or any other serious injury, some grass burns. I know a guy that broke his leg pretty badly but he was the exception not the rule.
Adults putting children in danger. Why no safety lines?
Children are rational than most adults. If they don't see it clearly (for example: the structure moves too much), they refuse to climb or continue climbing.
Surely those kiddos added to be castellers also play soccer, so take it easy
Visca els Castellers, freedom for Catalonia.
My two cents, everyone on the top using motorcycle airbags in case they start to fall it could be triggered remotely.