I've been pondering for some time whether one of the main moral characteristics of our country isn't irreverence. I say this in general terms, but when the Christmas holidays arrive, everything I see confirms it. To be more precise: we are irreverent with tradition, with the past, and with everything that identifies us as a historical nation. And, at the same time, reverential with the new, with intellectual trends, and with everything that comes from abroad. It's a distinctive trait of the Catalan character. Or, at least, of the dominant thought, even if it remains relatively disconnected from what guides genuine individual lifestyles.

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Witches certainly existed in Tiurana, a small municipality in the far east of Noguera, bordering the borders with Alt Urgell. This is confirmed by its own toponymy, which has identified the town for decades.Witches' era, a place very close to the hermitage of Sant Ermengol. In this era, experts say, one can find a wide variety of medicinal plants, the same ones that wise women used in ancient times to prepare their medicines.

"So you've seen all the Rome ritual on TV?!" Some of my friends, most of them agnostics and republicans, are amazed when I explain that I'm a ritual junkie and that I never miss the election of the Pope, or any royal wedding or funeral, or coronation.