The castellers and their traditions

Oct 6, 2021

Castellers y su tradición

We had a conversation with Albert Carda, one of the Metamalla salespeople, who has shared his love for “castells” with us.

M: Albert, tell us about the castells and their tradition…
A: Since the nineteenth century, one of the most consolidated traditions in Catalonia are the “castells” (castles), a sort of multi-level human towers. The first performance of a documented group is dated 02/02/1801 in Valls (Tarragona).

The “castellers” are a group of people who practice a traditional Catalan activity that has been ingrained for a couple of centuries, which has spread throughout all or a large part of the Catalan territory. The tradition is basically born in the province of Tarragona, and southern regions of Barcelona

It consists of creating human towers, with the effort and participation of all the members of the so-called “collas”. The human groups that make up these “collas” have a total transversality, open to anyone without any distinction by age, gender, origin, social class, etc. This is the key to generate a spirit of union with the very strong group, a basic and very important for this activity.

M: And who wins the competition?
A: The spirit of “pinya” and of union is fundamental to make those human towers rise as much as possible. As a consequence of this, in the collas there is no competition, either internally or with other collas, but each member gives the maximum of himself for the group.

The spirit of the “castellers” is not to compete but to create in its maximum expression.

And it is from the functioning of the collas that we can rescue the sense of unity, effort, discipline, communication, and the certainty that, when one works as a team, everyone is absolutely important.

So, the comparison with a company is immediate.

All people are important: the one who proppers, the one who supports, the one who climbs. It’s all part of the ultimate goal: collective success.

Sometimes, the effort is enormous, but achieving the goal is extremely rewarding.

M: According to your point of view… what are the most important values ​​for human “castells”?
A: It is a very interesting activity, and companies can take many values ​​from it: teamwork, effort and communication are some of the most important.

As in companies, communication is very important, talking constantly, during the decision of making process and positions, until the moment of assembling or disassembling the tower, through planning, management of roles (individual and collectives) and the objectives to be achieved. 

Teamwork and collective effort are points of agreement with any company. In a colla there is no “star” or a main protagonist. All members participate in the group’s success, in a way that reflects how important each link in the chain of command is, starting with positions that are not seen, but that carry out fundamental work so that everything else work. 

Castellers - Metalmalla
Castellers - Metalmalla

Getting enough stability and achieving your goal requires a whole team effort. It requires each one to perform its well-defined function, so that the castle is strong and stable.

M: Do you see similarities with your day to day here at Metalmalla?
A: At Metalmalla teamwork is very important, either internally, or in relation to our suppliers and customers.

Our company brings together different types of skills and abilities, to a certain extent similar to a human castle. We have technical skills, experience in the sector, creativity, communication and customer service.

We care about cooperation and, working together, allows us to reach our goal of being better and better, betting on that team spirit, sacrifice and effort, with the aim of achieving goals together.

M: Thank you Albert for sharing your experience as a member of the Colla Castellera de Cubelles!

In collaboration with:
Albert Carda
Commercial department