Europe > Spain > Catalunya > Barcelona > Articles > The Line of Fire

Leaping through the streets of the Catalan capital in inflammable trousers is all in a day’s work for Catalan Jordi Ullate Garcia. As president of the Barcelona ‘association of devils and beasts of fire’, Jordi is responsible for the modern interpretation of a Catalan festive tradition that has its roots in the 12th century. The fire run, or correfoc, is just one amongst Catalonia’s vast bag of offbeat cultural traditions (see the surreal ‘shitting Santa’ who decorates Catalan mantelpieces at yuletide) but it’s perhaps the most spectacular.

The correfoc can come in many forms, with variety throughout the Catalonian province. In Sitges, it is common for the crowd to line a street and watch fire runners sprinting through a tunnel of fireworks, whereas in Vilafranca horned figures jump and leap through a rain of fire crackers from surrounding buildings. For Jordi, However, Barcelona’s annual saints day is the apex of correfoc devil-doing, and an event he looks forward to all year. He takes us through a heated day at the 2006 Festa de la Merce below.

If there’s a spectacle odder than the sight of devil men bearing flaming torches it’s that of grown men in matching outfits balanced on each others’ shoulders in observance of another Catalan celebratory phenomenon: the human castle. The casteller formations stem from a 17th century Tarragonan dance involving a small number of people standing on each other’s shoulders. Today the tradition has evolved into a sophisticated affair, with castellers forming trembling towers up to nine stories high, accompanied by the jubilant strains traditional Catalan horn (gralla). Seasoned casteller Toni Mañané offers us his insight into the castellers’ strong-shouldered antics with a typical day in his life.

The beast of fire: Jordi Ullate García, The Association of Devils and Beasts of Fire, Barcelona
It’s a proud morning when I wake up on the first day of the four-day Festa de la Mercé (Barcelona’s annual saint’s day festival). Barcelona’s diables i bestiari de foc (devils and beasts of fire) spend a year preparing for the event and, as president of their association, I take particular care to look the part. Each colla (group) of beasts and devils dresses slightly differently, according to group tradition, but the basic outfit consists of black trousers and a black jacket painted with flames, with a horned black hood worn over the top. Everything is 100% cotton, so it’s less flammable. We also carry handkerchiefs (to put over our mouths, so we breathe in less of the smoke) and the children in the colla will wear special glasses to protect their eyes.

The story we act out is the age-old one: the battle of the forces of darkness and light. The first written reference to Spanish devil battles is in the 12th century, when Ramon Berenguer IV, the then count of Barcelona, married his child bride Petronila of Aragon and one of the events to celebrate the union was a theatrical battle between the celestial spirits and the forces of darkness. This tradition of theatrical battles continued through the generations until it was banned after the Spanish civil war. However, when Franco’s dictatorship fell, the tradition began to thrive again, but with a few modifications. In the early 1970s, a new style sprang up: the correfoc, or ‘run with fire’. Some of the collas who perform correfoc are more like comedians than devils, they dance through the crowd as they set off fireworks and swirl their flaming forks and the crowd participates, shouting and running with them.

On the first day of the Festa, my colla will meet at least two hours before the late-afternoon start time to prepare the fireworks and instruments (including drums, tambourines and the gralla, which is a kid of traditional horn). The most important props are the pyrotechnic devices, which we mount onto the top of giant pitchforks. It’s very competitive and these days some of forks have more than 150 devices on top. The materials and level of sophistication have changed a lot over the years of course – these days it’s difficult to find two forks that are exactly the same.

The place where we perform is nicknamed ‘hell’s door’, and a crowd of thousands will gather on one side of the door, waiting for us to emerge with our fanfare of noise, fire and chaos. On most days, I’ll have a traditional Catalan long lunch – between the hours of two and four – but on Festa days there won’t be time, I’ll usually grab some fast food (which I hate to do) or perhaps a snack sold at the festival, such as churros (sugared fried dough pieces, similar to donuts, which are a big hit with Catalan children).

What I love most about the Festa is seeing whole families dancing together under the fire with the devils. You’d think that the children would be scared by all the fire and noise, but they really love it, and we have children as young as eight who are desperate to join the colla. And it’s much more about the colour and percussion than scaring people anyway.

Naturally, the devil collas are in competition to be the best, but it’s friendly competition – there’s no risk if anyone being poked with a fork! Some of the groups who perform the correfoc are professionals, but many are from neighbourhoods of Barcelona and every neighbourhood will have at least one group. The celebrations end with a huge firework spectacle. By this point I will be completely tired out from partying and I’ll fall into bed without washing away the smell of smoke. I’ll wake up with another year to wait before I can hear the roar of the crowd as they chant for the devil-making to begin.

Visit the Diables i Bestiari de Foc de Barcelona at www.diablesbcn.org

The human tower: Toni Mañané, Castellers de Barcelona
This is my forth season as a member of the Castellers de Barcelona, but I still get very excited when the two performance days of the Barcelona la Merce arrive. Preparation takes many months, with eight hours training a week and extra training for the child who will be the ‘canalla’, balancing at the very top of the castell and completing the tower. We’ll work on the different parts of the structure, compacting them and working out how to make them stable, so on the day of the Festa they will be as safe – and high – as possible. We never complete the constructions in training but ‘release’ them on the day of performance, so it always promises to be an exciting day.

On the first day of the Festa I will wake up at 9am and dress in my uniform. It’s made up of three pieces: white trousers, a shirt bearing the shield of the colla, and a sash. The sash is the most important part of the casteller outfit, since it supports the lower part back and is used as a foothold or handhold when climbing up the tower. Its length can range from 1.5 to 8 meters, but it is usually shorter for those higher up. We’re usually barefoot, so we have more sensitivity and we don’t hurt other castellers as we climb.

I meet the other castellers of my colla at the Palau of the Virreina in La Ramblas, where we will have a team meeting before the lunchtime performance in Plaça de Sant Jaume. Our performance is inspiring: surrounded by thousands of cheering, clapping people as we compete to build the biggest and best tower against collas from all over Catalonia, including those of the ‘traditional zone’: the Alt Camp (Joves and Vella dels Xiquets de Valls) and the Penedès (Castellers de Vilafranca). The ‘holy grail’ is the ‘colla de nou’, or nine-story tower, which I achieved with my first performance with the Castellers de Barcelona, at the 2003 Merce – the best in history.

To be a casteller requires humility. You have to have complete confidence in your companions and solidarity. Unlike in other sports, in the castell there is a place for everyone, of whatever physical form. My constitution makes me a ‘pinya’, or ‘bulk’, the lowest part of the castell. The Pinya have to support the weight and pressure of six or seven stories, from the folre story on our shoulders to the canalla at the very top, so we need great endurance. When the castell begins to shift, and we are straining to keep it upright, the effort is enormous.

After the second performance, on day two of the Merce, we will meet for a great celebration to let off the tension accumulated over the weeks. We eat great piles of salads and chicken, but the food is less important than the camaraderie, the sense of accomplishment, and the anecdotes about who had their trousers pulled down this year as the castellers grappled their way up the tower. This is very common - but I’m happy to say it’s never been me!

See the Castellers de Barcelona throughout the year at the Barcelona Merce (Sept), Nou Barris (in May), their anniversary performances (June), or at the castellera Olympic games in Tarragona (Oct). http://www.castellersdebarcelona.org/ for more information.

Merry makers
More faces of Catalan carnival…

Cercaviles: Folkloric Processions: Fantastical dragons, twelve foot giants, enormous headed dwarfs, magical fire dancers and lively musicians form vibrant processions that wind their way through Catalan’s festival streets.

Dancing: Town squares explode into life with the pitter-patter of Catalan dancing: from the Ball dels Gegants (the Dance of the Giants) featuring twelve-foot puppets, to the Ball de Gitanes (Gypsy Dance), the Sardanes and Ball de Bastons (Stick Dance), which is a little like morris dancing.

Articles

• More from Sally Howard