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CCSS: 6.EE.A.2, 6.EE.B.6, MP2, MP4

TEKS: 6.7A, 7.10A, 8.8C

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A Towering Tradition

For centuries, teams in Spain have been competing to build the tallest human tower

September 5, 2016
By Jacqueline Barba

Men, women, and children crowd together in the town square of Tarragona, Spain. At the center is a group of people wearing matching shirts, white trousers, and dark sashes tied tightly around their waists. The group is still. Then, suddenly, several people scramble onto their teammates’ shoulders and woodwind instruments and drums begin to play.

Spectators look on in hushed anticipation as the group forms a tower six levels high. Finally, a small child climbs up to the tip-top. She waves her hand. The crowd cheers, and the tower quickly comes apart. This is the ancient Spanish tradition of building castells.

Drew Gardner/Gardner Creative

The word castell means “castle” in Catalan, the language of Spain’s northeast region. Building castells began in the Spanish city of  Valls in the 18th century. Town celebrations featured a dance that included a small human tower. Soon towers grew taller as teams tried to outperform their neighbors.

Today, castells are built for town festivals and national celebrations. This October, teams will face off in a biannual competition called the Concurs de Castells.

Hundreds are needed to build a castell, including kids light enough to reach the top. So teams are large and diverse. “That’s what I love most about this tradition,” says Mario Jiménez, a member of the team Xiquets de Tarragona. “Everybody—girls, boys, rich people, poor people—trains together.”

Drew Gardner/Gardner Creative

Towers have grown from 5 tiers in the 1700s to up to 10 tiers today! But reaching these heights has its risks. The “base” of the tower acts as a human cushion should the higher levels topple. The youngest members wear helmets for safety.

Jiménez’s team meets twice a week year-round to practice. Building castells requires balance and strength, but not just in terms of muscle. “It’s about controlling your emotions,” says Jiménez. “You have to be confident and calm.”

When their efforts pay off in a successful castell, the experience is amazing. “You are showing your hobby, in your city,” says Jiménez. “And when you achieve your goal, it is so exciting.”

WORKING WITH VARIABLES

There are many different types of human towers. But all have three parts: the base, the trunk, and the crown. You can write an expression using variables to represent the number of people in each part of the castell. Then replace the variables with numbers to determine the total people in each type of castell.

Kate Francis

Write and evaluate expressions and equations with the variables b, t, and c as shown above to find out how many people are in different types of castells.

A. A quatre castell has a base of 400 people, a trunk of 16 people, and 6 people in the crown. What is the value of each variable b, t, and c?

B. Write and evaluate an expression to find the number of people in the quatre castell

A. A simple pilar castell has a base of 35 people and a trunk of 6 people. What is the value of each variable b, t, and c?

B. Write and evaluate an expression to find the number of people in the pilar castell. 

A. A dos tower has a trunk with d tiers of 2 people each. Write a new equation for the number of people in the trunk of a dos tower.

B. Write and evaluate an expression to find the number of people in a dos tower with a base of 46 people, 3 tiers in the trunk, and a 3-person crown.  

A. The nou tower has a trunk with n tiers of 9 people each. There are 3 people in the crown, and the base has 308 people. Write an expression for the total number of people in the tower.

B. Say there is a total of 365 people in the tower. Use your expression from part A to find the number of tiers in the trunk.

On a separate sheet of paper, design your own castell and write an expression to calculate the total number of people needed to build it. 

Algebra
Equations, Variables and Unknowns, Expressions
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