In Spain, there are diverse festivals that all the tourists and citizens in Spain can all enjoy together. One of these festivals is held in Catalonia, and is mostly known to people as Annual Tarragona Castells Festival. In this festival, groups of people called 'colles' form about 10-story-high human towers, or 'castells.' This festival is celebrated as one of the most interesting festival to visit for its long history and scale.
On the day of the festival, usually taking place on the first weekend of October, thousands of people gather to see the tower building competitions. The colles wear the uniform in colors that represent their team, along with other gears that would make climbing easier. The first step they need to take in order to build the tower is to stand close as much as they can and hold the shoulders of the person right in front. This procedure is needed to build a strong foundation of the tower. Then, other members of the team start to head up, with usually men on the bottom, then woman, followed by boys and girls. When they succeed in erecting the tower, the person standing on the top called enxaneta holds up four fingers, symbolizing the Catalan flag.
This festival dates its start back to 18th century. It is believed to have been originated from the dance groups building towers in Valls, which is a city near Tarragona, in the end of 18th century. Soon, it became very popular among the villagers and it came to be one of the biggest festivals in Spain. It also holds great importance in that it symbolizes the Catalan flag. Most of the times, the win is given to the team that builds most complex and highest towers of all. Also, the building and disassembling process is included in the evaluation as well, because if the tower falls before completely reaching the top level, it cannot be given a positive evaluation.
Although this human tower building seems a bit dangerous, this festival is actually listed as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Also, over the decades, there has only been two critical injuries, and other times, there were only minor accidents that only caused headaches or nosebleed. Because there are many people standing under the tower that acts not only as a strong foundation, but also as a safety net for the tower builders, the safety is guaranteed most of the times. There are numerous ambulances in case of emergency as well.
In brief, what they do on the Annual Tarragona Castells Festival, why it holds great meaning and other facts about this exciting festival shows how it is one of the greatest event in Spain. This is an event man and woman, young and old can enjoy at the same time, and where locals and tourists can spend great time together.
To Minyoung Kang From Se-Kyu Oh
ReplyDelete1. What I like about this piece of writing is that you described the process of the festival in details, therefore making it easier for me to understand and also imagine what the festival would be like.
2. Your main point seems to be that Annual Tarragona Castells Festival is one of the most famous festivals in Spain and it is meaningful because during the festival, residents and foreigners can gather and cooperate.
3. These particular words or lines struck me as powerful is the word ‘erect,’ because I’ve never used or heard of this word before and I found that this vocabulary is much more proper than the word ‘build’ in this writing.
4. Some things aren't clear to me. These lines or parts could be improved:
“In brief, what they do on the Annual Tarragona Castells Festival, why it holds great meaning and other facts about this exciting festival shows how it is one of the greatest event in Spain.” Subject is so long that I had a hard time understanding this sentence and I think you may want to use a conjunction such as ‘and’ between ‘what’ clause and ‘why’ clause.
And I also think ‘why it is one of the greatest events in Spain’ is better than ‘how it is one of the greatest even in Spain’.
5. The one change you could make that would make the biggest improvement in this piece of writing is
I think hook has a place to be improved to attract readers and to cause more curiosities. How about a little bit more intriguing sentence?
1. One of these festivals is held in Catalonia, and is mostly known to people as Annual Tarragona Castells Festival.
ReplyDelete2. “colles” are the participants of this festival and they make a “castell”, a human tower.
3. Yes.
4. In the body, at first, the writer talked about what happened in the festival day. Secondly, she dealt with the origin of the festival. Finally, she gave the reason why the festival is so popular.
5. There are so many facts, definitions, or details such as “colles”, “castell”, and Catalan flag, etc.
6. Yes. She said that all people no matter how they old can enjoy this festival.
Imagine a tower of people supporting each other to erect the highest tower than any other team. It sounds like a story from movies, but it is actually a story of a festival that is held annually with thousands of people. In Spain, there are diverse festivals that all the tourists and citizens in Spain can all enjoy together. One of these festivals is held in Catalonia, and is mostly known to people as Annual Tarragona Castells Festival. In this festival, groups of people called 'colles' form about 10-story-high human towers, or 'castells.' This festival is celebrated as one of the most interesting festival to visit for its long history and scale.
ReplyDeleteOn the day of the festival, usually taking place on the first weekend of October, thousands of people gather to see the tower building competitions. The colles wear the uniform in colors that represent their team, along with other gears that would make climbing easier. The first step they need to take in order to build the tower is to stand close as much as they can and hold the shoulders of the person right in front. This procedure is needed to build a strong foundation of the tower. Then, other members of the team start to head up, with usually men on the bottom, then woman, followed by boys and girls. When they succeed in erecting the tower, the person standing on the top called enxaneta holds up four fingers, symbolizing the Catalan flag.
This festival dates its start back to 18th century. It is believed to have been originated from the dance groups building towers in Valls, which is a city near Tarragona, in the end of 18th century. Soon, it became very popular among the villagers and it came to be one of the biggest festivals in Spain. It also holds great importance in that it symbolizes the Catalan flag. Most of the times, the win is given to the team that builds most complex and highest towers of all. Also, the building and disassembling process is included in the evaluation as well, because if the tower falls before completely reaching the top level, it cannot be given a positive evaluation.
Although this human tower building seems a bit dangerous, this festival is actually listed as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Also, over the decades, there has only been two critical injuries, and other times, there were only minor accidents that only caused headaches or nosebleed. Because there are many people standing under the tower that acts not only as a strong foundation, but also as a safety net for the tower builders, the safety is guaranteed most of the times. There are numerous ambulances in case of emergency as well.
In brief, the Annual Tarragona Castells Festival is an event man and woman, young and old can enjoy at the same time, and where locals and tourists can spend great time together. It holds a great meaning to everyone who participates in the festival. It is definitely one of the best festivals in Spain that is worth visiting one time in life.