‘I’ve never felt Spanish’: pro-independence Catalans explain why they feel no loyalty to Madrid

It’s a time for celebration in Girona, a city that maps and world governments say is in Spain, but many residents consider part of an independent republic of Catalonia.

Amid the party atmosphere of a festival weekend, many in this secessionist stronghold are cheering the Catalan parliament’s declaration of independence from Spain, a country they don’t regard as their own.

“I’ve never felt Spanish in my life,” said graphic designer Anna Faure as Girona celebrated the annual festival of its patron saint with food, music, a carnival and displays of the gravity-defying sport of human towers, known as castells.

Faure says castells is a true Catalan tradition, a view she doesn’t hold about Spanish icons such as bullfighting, which Catalan authorities have tried to ban, or Flamenco, an import from Andalusia in southern Spain.

Flamenco is fine, she said, but “it’s not mine.”

Many people in this northeastern region of 7.5 million believe Catalonia’s language, history and cultural traditions – even Catalans’ ironic sense of humour – set it apart from the rest of Spain.