Eulalia

Not only is this the weekend of Carnival, it is also the holiday of Eulalia here in Barcelona.  Eulalia is the co-patron saint of Barcelona (I am getting all of this info from Wikipedia...) who was killed by Romans when she was thirteen years old because she wouldn't renounce her Christianity.  She was tortured in thirteen different ways, like rolling her down the street in a barrel studded with broken glass and crucifying her on an x-shaped cross.  To celebrate her martyrdom, there is a huge festival.  There are parades with giants like in the blog post I put up two days ago and then there are also castellers (people who build huge human towers).  We attended the celebrations today and they were amazing.

First, more giants.  These ones were even taller than yesterday's!

Festivities in the crowd.  When we first got to the plaza where the event was taking place, it was packed with people.  

A mini tower.  This was just the beginning.

Getting bigger... this was a competition so there were four or five different teams and three rounds to compete in.  Each round had more and more people involved in building the towers.

In the final round.... building the foundation.

Still going!!!  A tower is complete when a little kid climbs to the top and puts his or her hand in the air.  If the kid doesn't do that, then the tower is considered a failed tower.  Sometimes the towers crumble and everyone falls down into the crowd supporting them.  None of the towers fell today but it looked close at one point.