Human pyramid

<h2 id="traditions-involving-human-pyramids">Traditions involving human pyramids</h2>
<h3>China</h3>
<ul><li>Human pyramids are often formed to reach for the bun during the Chinese <a href="/facts/Bun_Festival/WElwo4Bm">Bun Festival</a>.</li></ul>
<h3>Czech Republic</h3>

<ul><li>The <a href="/facts/Czech_Sokol_movement/n35SXX6j">Czech Sokol movement</a> is a youth sport movement and gymnastics organization founded in Prague in 1862. It was primarily a fitness training center for the nation. The movement also spread across other Slavic regions. Some of the Sokol exercises included human pyramids.</li></ul>
<h3>India</h3>
<p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/Dahi_Handi/m3nDIXFY">Dahi Handi</a></p>
<ul><li>During the <a href="/facts/Hinduism/oxV9YvQh">Hindu</a> festival <a href="/facts/Krishna_Janmashtami/2g3HIGtS">Krishna Janmashtami</a> in <a href="/facts/Maharashtra/4hAVYlb4">Maharashtra</a>, young men form human pyramids to reach pots filled with curd and butter and suspended high above the ground as part of the <i>Dahi Handi</i> ritual.</li></ul>
<h3>Spain</h3>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Algemes%25C3%25AD/fcMLYDfU">Algemesí</a> holds a Human Pyramid Festival annually on September 8 as a component of the Fiesta de La Virgen de la Salud (Virgin of Good Health). The <a href="/facts/Muixeranga/85D9kcdp">muixeranga</a>, or <a href="/facts/Acrobatics/cdkCU7tz">acrobats</a>, form the human towers.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Catalonia/p2KeGXbf">Catalonia</a></li></ul>
<p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/Castell/GT1WXFBs">Castell</a></p>
The "castellers" of <a href="/facts/Catalonia/p2KeGXbf">Catalonia</a> form human pyramids, named <a href="/facts/Castell/GT1WXFBs">castells</a> ("castles"), up to ten men high. In Catalonia, several statues commemorate this old tradition. In <a href="/facts/Tarragona/otcDMbw8">Tarragona</a> the castellers form human towers during the <a href="/facts/Santa_Tecla_Festival/VGfGNmWJ">Santa Tecla Festival</a> in September and during the Sant Magi festival, held annually in mid-August.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a>
The Falcons are traditional teams in Catalonia who build human pyramids and towers. They follow different rules from the ones of the castells.

<h3>United States</h3>
<ul><li>It is used in bonding, e.g. as part of a North American college <a href="/facts/Fraternities_and_sororities/rmJgMCDN">fraternity</a> <a href="/facts/Hazing/GGI9q4n4">hazing</a> ritual, or in a variation called a <i>spanking pyramid</i>, suitable as a <a href="/facts/Collective_punishment/guXuYXdL">collective punishment</a>, in which the pledges, often divested, are paddled on the conveniently protruded posterior.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Boy_Scouts_of_America/xGoQDGpQ">Boy Scouts</a> and <a href="/facts/Girl_Scouts_of_the_USA/hzphlXGI">Girl Scouts</a> may hold competitions where the patrol that builds a human pyramid using all the scouts in their patrol the fastest, wins.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a></li>
<li>University performance groups use human pyramids as large-scale <a href="/facts/Acrobalance/XSd0Duq8">acrobalance</a>. The University of Maryland Gymkana Troupe keeps a tradition alive by building a series of pyramids during every one of their large shows.  The Washington Adventist University Acro-Airs create 3-person high pyramids while combining cheer-based skills and tumbling passes.</li></ul>
<h3>Veneto</h3>
<ul><li>In Venice until the eighteenth century there were human towers formed by Castellani and Nicolotti, inhabitants of different parts of Venice. Their human towers, maximum of 8 levels of men, were called Forze d'Ercole. At the top there was a child, usually called the Cimiereto.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a></li></ul>
<h2 id="cheerleading">Cheerleading</h2>

<p><a href="/facts/Cheerleader/lg6WJpdj">Cheerleaders</a> may perform human pyramids with more difficult <a href="/facts/Stunt/QqhgWNjA">stunt</a> sequences and <a href="/facts/Gymnastics/YaX3BFwW">gymnastics</a> incorporated into routines. In cheerleading, pyramids are multiple groups of stunts connected aerially by the flyers. This connection may be made by simple linking of hands or having a multi-level pyramid. The flyers already in the air act as primary bases for another flyer or flyers on top of them.
</p>
<h2 id="safety">Safety</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/09/25/national/human-pyramids-school-sports-days-spark-safety-concerns/#.VCPhTxauRIZ">Human pyramids at school sports days spark safety concerns</a> the japan times SEP 25, 2014</li>
<li><a href="https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jnms/82/6/82_295/_pdf">Gymnastic Formation-related Injury to Children in Physical Education</a> (※PDF) Journal of Nippon Medical School. Accepted, September 27, 2015</li>
<li><a href="https://www.osaka-ue.ac.jp/zemi/nishiyama/articles/kumi2016e.pdf">A scientific investigation of risk in large gymnastic formations</a>(※PDF) Yutaka Nishiyama January-15 2017 NAID:120005972587</li></ul>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Gymnastic_formation/VXGRTMjr">Gymnastic formation</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Acrobatic_gymnastics/CwY2YRHC">Acrobatic gymnastics</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Acrobalance/XSd0Duq8">Acrobalance</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Castell/GT1WXFBs">Castell</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Muixeranga/85D9kcdp">Muixeranga</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Human_tower_(gymnastic_formation)/C8s8fty9">Human tower (gymnastic formation)</a></li></ul>

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Human pyramids.

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"La Muixeranga | Algemesí, Spain | Whatsonwhen". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2008-03-30. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110718040323/http://www.whatsonwhen.com/sisp/?event_id=13492&fx=event" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20110718040323/http://www.whatsonwhen.com/sisp/?event_id=13492&fx=event</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>"Tarragona Pictures - Human Pyramid Statue - Tarragona Spain Photo Gallery". Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161220072221/http://goeurope.about.com/library/phot/bl_tarragona_6.htm" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20161220072221/http://goeurope.about.com/library/phot/bl_tarragona_6.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"Human Pyramid Activity". Retrieved 7 December 2016. <a href="http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/activity/activity-285.asp" target="_blank">http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/activity/activity-285.asp</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>"Archivio on line - BSA Digital Library". Retrieved 7 December 2016. <a href="http://biblio1.ve.ismar.cnr.it/fedora/repository/ismarbsa:ve00357-0091" target="_blank">http://biblio1.ve.ismar.cnr.it/fedora/repository/ismarbsa:ve00357-0091</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Human pyramid open-in-new

Human pyramid