Tarragona will welcome on Wednesday, 24 June –coinciding with Sant Joan’s castells (human towers) performance– the 3rd edition of “Tarragona, City of Castells”; a singular, original and authentic project willing to bring the world of “castells” to locals, as well as tourists willing to know more about it.
This project will kick off on Sant Joan’s Day and will end on Santa Tecla’s Festivities. The year’s edition main difference can be found in the higher number of performances that will take place in the city –two times more in fact–, which will be held every Wednesday night, from 8 July to 9 September, and that will include, simultaneously, the 4 “colles castelleres” (castells teams) in the city: Xiquets de Tarragona, Colla Jove Xiquets de Tarragona, Xiquets del Serallo and Castellers de Sant Pere i Sant PauTarragona, City of Castells” will still allow users to attend the actual rehearsals of both Xiquets de Tarragona and Jove Xiquets de Tarragona, as well as guided tours to the main and most relevant local “castells” scenes, among other activities.
“Tarragona, City of Castells” has consolidated as a product in just 3 years and has caught, not just the attention of locals –unaware until now of the way a “colla” works from the inside out–, but also to those tourists visiting the city and see “castells” as a spectacular and exciting tradition that, at the same time, gathers a number of values such as teamwork, solidarity, the relation between people of different ages and the acceptance of everyone, without any exceptions.
“Tarragona, City of Castells” will count on the support of Tarragona’s Tourism Board for the 3rd consecutive year, which will programme and promote the different activities in 4 languages (Catalan, Spanish, English and French) so that this product gets to every visitor.
In this sense, it is worth mentioning that tickets for the rehearsals are already for sale, and include a guided tour to the home of either Xiquets de Tarragona or Colla Jove Xiquets de Tarragona. The first of the rehearsals will take place on Tuesday, 30 June.
Tickets are available for purchase at Tarragona Tourism’s website:
Calendar for the 2015 “Tarragona, City of Castells” Wednesday’s events:
• 8 July: Xiquets de Tarragona.
• 15 July: Castellers de Sant Pere y Sant Pau.
• 22 July: Colla Jove Xiquets de Tarragona y Xiquets del Serrallo.
• 29 July: Castellers de Sant Pere i Sant Pau.
• 5 August: Xiquets de Tarragona.
• 12 August: Xiquets del Serrallo.
• 26 August: Xiquets de Tarragona.
• 2 September: Xiquets del Serrallo.
• 9 September: Castellers de Sant Pere y Sant Pau.
Rehearsals for both Xiquets de Tarragona and Colla Jove Xiquets de Tarragona (on Tuesdays):
• 30 June: Xiquets de Tarragona.
• 7 July: Colla Jove Xiquets de Tarragona.
• 14 July: Xiquets de Tarragona.
• 21 July: Colla Jove Xiquets de Tarragona.
• 28 July: Xiquets de Tarragona.
• 4 August: Colla Jove Xiquets de Tarragona.
• 11 August: Xiquets de Tarragona.
• No rehearsal on 18 August.
• 25 August: Xiquets de Tarragona.
• 1 September: Colla Jove Xiquets de Tarragona.
• 8 September: Xiquets de Tarragona.
Text: Ivan Rodon (@irodon on Twitter)
Pictures: Pere Toda (@ptodaserra on Instagram)
Translation: Artur Santos (@artur_1983 on Twitter)
