It was another place, another time. Although most of us will confess to possessing little knowledge about Catalonia in the 18th century, we can jump to certain presumptions based on a traditional pursuit passed down to us from there and then.

We can surmise, for example, there were no child protective services, no municipal ordinances pertaining to safety, and that if there were lawyers at all, they weren’t especially litigious.

None of the above applies in 21st-century Europe, and yet in Catalonia this traditional pastime serves as a wormhole to that less mollycoddled era. Two and a half centuries ago, the powers that be were content to allow their citizens to stand on each other’s shoulders, creating human towers nine or 10 people high, and for a small child to shimmy up the height of the perilous structure to stand at the pinnacle with arms outstretched.

Because the authorities allowed it then, they must allow it now. UNESCO officially designated these human towers Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Child protective services turn a momentary blind eye. Safety legislation is temporarily shelved. Lawyers watch impotently.

The tradition of building human towers — castells — is thought to have originated in the southern Catalonian province of Tarragona. The reasons are not clear. In this part of Spain, people work the land and fish the Mediterranean. They earn their daily siestas. And yet, one historic day in the 1700s, someone roused himself from drowsy shade and invited his fellow villagers to assemble themselves vertically. Amazingly, they did.

Siestas in this corner of the country would, forevermore, be disrupted by the castell craze. By trial and error, the first practitioners realized it is no easy task to stand one on top of another. It requires hour upon hour of practice and the invention of dedicated techniques and terminology.

Although the village of Valls claims to have first developed castells, neighboring villages soon latched on, introducing a competitive edge. Each village established its own team of castellers, decked out in unique colors. They also took to wearing black sashes around their waists to provide secure hand- and toe-holds for the castellers scaling the outside of the tower.

Since then, castellers have engaged not just in an arms race against their rival villages but also against gravity. As each new level is added to a tower, new structural techniques must be devised to hold it steady.

Four elements serve as the castellers’ motto: strength, balance, courage and common sense. Anyone lacking any of these need not apply.

As with any structure, strong foundations are essential. The stockiest, most powerful castellers stand at the bottom, supporting the weight. As the levels go up, so the castellers become lighter and younger, and more are female. Once everyone else is in place, the enxaneta (or “rider” — usually a young girl) climbs to the top, holds her pose for a second or two and then descends, signaling the careful dismantling of the castell.

Castell building is a feature of many Catalonian local festivals, but the main event is the Concurs de Castells, held every other October in the decommissioned bull ring in the city of Tarragona. This month, around 30 teams will be competing for the ultimate prize.

The deft choreography required to assemble and dismantle a tower is breathtaking. Each castell is a living proclamation of a proud heritage and a symbol of the heights people can rise to in the absence of red tape.