The 2026 Concurs de Castells now has the definitive list of participating groups. With the classification closed, it is now known who will compete in each of the three days of the event, which will be held on September 27th and October 3rd and 4th in Torredembarra and at the Tarraco Arena Plaça.

There are festivals that are remembered. There are those that are told for years. And then there are days like today, when the Plaça de la Vila in Vilafranca seems to want to widen so that everything that happens there can fit. Sant Fèlix has been an absurdity. A Sant Fèlix of the maximums, of permanent extra gamma, of castles that for a long time had not been seen together and of a human tower tension brought to the limit. One of those days when the human tower world looks at the square and understands that it is witnessing something extraordinary. And a festival in which, for the first time in history, the 9-high pillar with folre, manilles and puntals has been unloaded.

If anyone was looking for clues about what might happen at Sant Fèlix, l'Arboç has left a few. The festival has brought together three of the four groups that will meet in Vilafranca, and they have all taken advantage of the event to show some of their cards. The result has been a top-level day, with a 3d10fm from Castellers de Vilafranca, an unprecedented 4d9sf in the square by Colla Vella, and a new 2d9fm from Jove de Tarragona.

Twenty-six years may seem like an eternity in the world of castellers. For La Joves, however, this August 15th has been worth the wait. The 4d9sf that the reds loaded in La Bisbal 26 years ago is no longer an unfinished business: this time, the group has unloaded it. And they have done so with authority, in an afternoon in which they still had the strength to complete a 2d9fm and finish with a pillar of 7 with folre.

The Plaça de les Cols experienced one of the most notable human tower festival days in recent years this Sant Magí. On a day marked by heat, with temperatures above 33 degrees and high humidity, the four Tarragona-based teams completed a masterful performance and, above all, without any falls.

There are squares that are small in size and, on the other hand, have enormous capacity to build castles. The Plaça de la Vila del Catllar is one of them. This Saturday, however, the Tarragona square has gone even further: it has been the scene of an unprecedented performance. The three groups have put four gamma extra constructions on the table each and have completed an afternoon of maximums at the gates of Sant Fèlix. The Castellers de Vilafranca and the Colla Vella have completed their four gamma extra. La Jove de Tarragona has unloaded two and loaded two more. The result is unprecedented: never before had three groups managed to gather four gamma extra in a single performance.

Tarragona is already living the countdown to the Sant Magí festival. The city's four groups are facing the final days of preparation with rehearsals and tests that will finalize the programs they will bring to Plaça de les Cols on Wednesday, August 19. The event, starting at noon, will once again bring together Jove, Xiquets, Sant Pere i Sant Pau, and Serrallo in a festival with very different objectives but with a common denominator: reaching the highest possible level in one of the most important events of the Tarragona summer.

The squares of Valls and Llorenç del Penedès have left a weekend that confirms the good moment of the casteller world, despite the difficulties with which some groups arrived. At Firagost, the Vella and the Joves have overcome bajas and doubts with four extra-gamma castles. For their part, in Llorenç del Penedès, the Jove de Tarragona, the Joves and the Nens del Vendrell have completed a solid day without falls.

This Tuesday marks twenty years since Mariona Galindo passed away; a name that remains alive in the memory of the Capgrossos de Mataró, but also of the entire casteller world. To say it is, even today, an exercise of memory, respect, and affection. At just twelve years old, Mariona was part of a generation of children who experienced castells with the enthusiasm, responsibility, and joy of someone who had found a second family in the group. No one could have imagined that the summer of 2006 would end up being one of the most painful pages in casteller history. But this tragedy also accelerated profound changes in the safety of castells: the helmet for children, which was already being developed, went from being a project to becoming a reality. And immediately.

When the Festa Major of Riera de Gaià arrives, the colors of the shirts take a back seat. Castellers de la Joves de Valls, la Vella, els Xiquets de Tarragona, els Xiquets del Serrallo, els Nois de la Torre, els Castellers d'Altafulla or other groups from the region take off their usual identity for a day. They put on a checkered shirt, tie their sashes, and form a pinecone under a single name: els Espigolats de la Riera.

The festival of the Snows confirmed this Saturday that it continues to be one of the great events of the casteller calendar. On the tenth anniversary of its consolidation as a plaza de deu, the four groups came out determined to show their best cards. Each was pursuing different objectives, but all opened the performance with the peak they have achieved this season, in a day of very high level that ended with the Castellers de Vilafranca signing the best performance ever seen in the Vilanova square.

The Santes festival in Mataró this Saturday has once again demonstrated why it is one of the essential dates on the casteller calendar. It did so with all possible ingredients: top-level castells, torrential rain that forced the performance to be interrupted, and an emotional tribute to Mariona, the young woman from Capgrossos who lost her life twenty years ago after an accident at this very festival.

There are moments that a group waits for years. And there are those who wait for generations. Los Xiquets del Serrallo have had to wait 38 years to write this page. Thirty-eight years of journey, of rehearsals, of falls, of getting back up and of pursuing a goal that for a long time always seemed a little further away. But one day it arrives. And when it arrives, everything makes sense.

Extra-range recital and return of the mattresses to the nine floors

The Plaça del Pou in Altafulla has once again become the epicenter of the casteller world with a top-level Diada de les Cultures, marked by the second major head-to-head of the season between the Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls and the Castellers de Vilafranca, as well as the return of the Xiquets de Tarragona to nine-story towers. On a day commemorating the 25th anniversary of the festival, the four participating groups offered a high-voltage performance that confirms the excellent moment the casteller world is experiencing at the start of summer.

]]>

There are seasons that are remembered for the castles achieved and others for the path that must be taken to reach them. Els Sagals d'Osona wanted to record this journey with Aixecar-se, the documentary they produced jointly with Canal Taronja and which was presented on June 28 at Espai ETC in Vic. The audiovisual offers an inside look at one of the group's most special campaigns, in which collective effort, emotions, and perseverance culminate in a season that is already part of its history.

]]>

Els Minyons de Terrassa have been working for a long time to make castells an activity open to everyone. This commitment has now translated into the Acompanya'm project, an initiative developed jointly with Prodis and Escola Heura, which aims to make both the group's social headquarters, Cal Reig, and the experience of living a castells performance into fully cognitively accessible spaces.

]]>

After the great level shown by the Xiquets de Valls for Sant Joan, the Castellers de Vilafranca arrived in Tarragona with the challenge of demonstrating that, this season, they are also prepared to aim for everything. The greens did not fail and completed a top-level performance, discharging three extra-category constructions: the first tower of 9 with folre and manilles of the season, the 4d9fa, and the pillar of 8 emmanillat. They rounded off the performance by discharging a new 3d9f.

]]>

The Castellers de Barcelona have experienced one of the most special weekends in recent years with a tour of Switzerland that combined a historic feat, the promotion of Catalan culture, and the sponsorship of the Castellers de Lausanne. The expedition consisted of around 200 people – 180 of them in uniform – and they turned the Helvetic country into the setting for a journey that goes far beyond the castells.

]]>

The Castellers de Barcelona made history this Thursday by completing a 3 of 7 at an altitude of 3,454 meters, at the Jungfraujoch station in the Swiss Alps. The structure, crowned next to the building known as Top of Europe, becomes the documented highest-raised castell.

]]>

The Plaça del Blat in Valls has something that escapes any rational explanation. Call it magic, tradition, or simply the effect of bringing together the two groups of Xiquets de Valls at the kilometer zero of the casteller feat. Whatever it is, Sant Joan of 2026 is already part of history. The extreme heat has not prevented the square from once again becoming the stage for one of those days that, over the years, will be remembered.

]]>