The people of Catalan who wish to secede from Spain are filled with pride, fervor and a great deal of physical strength.
Every other year in October, teams from across Spain assemble in Tarragona, a city nearly 50 miles southwest of Barcelona, and compete to build the tallest and most intricate tower of people, also known as castells. The Human Tower Competition celebrated its 25th anniversary on Sunday.
Teams consist of 75 to 100 men, women and children, and each team gets five chances to construct a tower. Scoring is based on points earned from the three best towers. A tower only is only considered successful if no one falls during its creation; as a tower is built, whoever stands at the top is required to extend four fingers on one hand to symbolize the Catalan flag.
More than 40 teams competed, but only one -- the Castellers de Vilafranca -- came out on top.