They're required to wear helmets to keep them save while they shimmy up to the top of their towers.
One of the most intense parts of Les Fires is the correfoc (fire run). Translated from Catalan, this literally means "fire run". Each year about 25 people dress up as devils and dragons and hide in the crowd gathering in the main square. At their leaders signal, they begin lighting of fire sticks and chasing villagers. We ran until we got to a second plaza, where there were giant flaming balls of fireworks. So giant, in fact, that my hair was burnt off. Mind you, this all happened within the first month of me living in Spain. Safe to say I was shocked.
Les Fires de San Narcis are celebrated in honor of the city's patron saint, Narcis. During the 1200s, French solders were trying to take over Girona. Legend has it that while they accidentally broke open the tomb of Saint Narcis during battle. When they did so, he released thousands of diseased flies that chased away the French soldiers, thus saving Girona. Becauase of this, there are flies all over Girona. Even our futbol team's mascot is a fly (not very intimidating unless you know the legend).
Nowadays, the festival begins October 29th. This marks the beginning of the cold season in Girona. The people call this time "the cold snap of Saint Narcis", marking the death of all the city's summer flies.
