{"id":3926,"date":"2015-07-28T08:06:03","date_gmt":"2015-07-28T07:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarragonaexperience.com\/2015\/07\/28\/antoni-mas-blacksmith-and-creator-of-aliga-de-tarragona-with-the-aliga-we-forged-a-symbol-of-tarragona\/"},"modified":"2015-07-28T08:06:03","modified_gmt":"2015-07-28T07:06:03","slug":"antoni-mas-blacksmith-and-creator-of-aliga-de-tarragona-with-the-aliga-we-forged-a-symbol-of-tarragona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarragonaexperience.com\/en\/2015\/07\/28\/antoni-mas-blacksmith-and-creator-of-aliga-de-tarragona-with-the-aliga-we-forged-a-symbol-of-tarragona\/","title":{"rendered":"Antoni Mas, blacksmith and creator of \u201c\u00c0liga de Tarragona\u201d: \u201cWith the \u00c0liga, we forged a symbol of Tarragona\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Antoni<\/a><\/p>\n

Collaborator for years in the radio programme \u201cEl m\u00f3n s\u2019acaba\u2026<\/em>\u201d by Xavier Grasset<\/strong> in Catalunya R\u00e0dio<\/strong>, Antoni Mas<\/strong> become famous for choosing and explaining an endless selection of anecdotes, ironic stories from the past decade about the villages\u2019 daily nature. Between the late 90s and the beginning of the new millennium, the Mas<\/strong> family drove mile after mile so that Antoni<\/strong>, who has an extraordinary ability to talk to people, could store all sort of stories. <\/p>\n

However, one of the anecdotes that made a more lasting impression on Antoni<\/strong>\u2019s life was not very far from his home, as it actually went to visit him in his blacksmith workshop, located in Vila-seca<\/strong>. In 1983, a group of teenagers attended his house with an idea that would provide Santa Tecla<\/strong>, Tarragona<\/strong> major festivity, with a decisive push.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted to found a group of Ball de Diables and needed me to build some ceptrots (fireworks metal support) for both Llucifer and the Diablessa<\/em>\u201d, remembers. Three years later \u201cthey came back with an even more difficult project: they wanted the \u00c0liga (eagle) back<\/em>\u201d, the legendary \u00c0liga once property of the blacksmiths and that represented the city in the parade until its final appearance, in the 19th century.<\/p>\n

This task got onto the best possible hands. Mas works on the \u201cforging, tooling and deep drawing<\/em>\u201d; that is, the typically blacksmith\u2019s duties. Actually, Antoni<\/strong> is still taming steel in the same way his ancestors did in the very same workshop. Among all his old tools hanging from the walls, he says, we can find some once used by prisoners digging the cliff at Balc\u00f3 del Mediterrani<\/strong>, in the 19th century. It was with those stones that the port was built.<\/p>\n

In fact, all Tarragona<\/strong> \u2013not just the Balc\u00f3 and port\u2013 was built thanks to many people\u2019s effort and sweat. And there\u2019s also a lot of effort, although more symbolic and figurate, in the recovery of Santa Tecla<\/strong>\u2019s festivity. This very old ritual \u2013almost killed by the lack of institutional interest\u2013 is today a massive success in local engagement and contribution; a true festive meeting that depicts Tarragona<\/strong>. All this, thanks to the commitment, farsightedness and hyperbolic will of a group of people that started as a small core, but that soon grew with their ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot even when I got the task to build the \u00c0liga, period on which the local festivity was getting some of that prestige, would I have never thought everything was actually going to catch on. Sometimes, when I see all those people in the street, desperately taking part in the so-called <\/em>Process\u00f3 del Bra\u00e7 or the <\/em>Baixada de l\u2019\u00c0liga, I think it\u2019s all a sort of collective madness. People lost their faith in many ways, but party has the ability to actually generate loads of devotion<\/em>\u201d, says Mas<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The process of creating the \u00c0liga<\/strong> in itself was a little effort miracle. Antoni<\/strong>, trained in the \u201cEscola d\u2019Art i Disseny de la Diputaci\u00f3<\/strong>\u201d, got inspiration from Girona\u2019s \u00c0liga and created a structure of steel dressed up with geometrical brass pieces. The result: the heaviest 80kg ever to come out of his workshop. \u201cIt was a very hard process. My eyes were watering as we assembled it. I would have never been so nervous at work. Besides, we had to really rush in order to have it ready for the local festivity of 1986, as it had already been announced<\/em>\u201d, says Mas<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the \u00c0liga, we forged a symbol of Tarragona<\/em>\u201d. Antoni<\/strong> feels proud of being the father of such elegant, funny and symbolica creature, rounded off with a jewellery crown made by Bl\u00e1zquez<\/strong>. Mas<\/strong> himself has now taken part in the \u00c0liga<\/strong>\u2019s restoration, spoiled by years of festivities, which will soon get its best look ready for the upcoming Santa Tecla<\/strong> festivity, on the occasion of the 30th birthday of this celebration\u2019s recovery. Concerts, meetings and varied parties will spice up an anniversary that will find its climax the night of 21 September, with the legendary \u201cBaixada de l\u2019\u00c0liga<\/strong>\u201d and the other members up from the Pla\u00e7a de les Cols<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

While the festivity is getting ready, Mas<\/strong> revises his pencil sketches, the first tests with feathers and the remaining steel pieces that were left in his workshop. \u201cIt was a really tough task, one that really challenged me as a blacksmith<\/em>\u201d, he explains. As seen throughout the years, contribution made by this master craftsman to the “Seguici de Tarragona<\/strong>” have become key in order to forge the legend. Diables<\/strong>, \u00c0liga<\/strong>, Cucafera<\/strong>, \u00c0liga petita<\/strong>, Cucafera petita<\/strong>, and the most recent Griu<\/strong>\u2026 they have all been born from the hands of Antoni Mas<\/strong> to gain the city\u2019s everlasting love.<\/p>\n