[mrfinn]

Loyalty is one of the strongest qualities of Spaniards. Or curses. Depends on the occasion I guess. But the saying "ser más papista que el papa" (to be more pro-pope than the pope himself) is not said by chance in Spain.

[throwanem]

"More Catholic than the pope," I believe that may also mean, referring not to loyalty but to intolerably unctuous and hypocritical sanctimony.

We do have that expression in this language, and "papist" is one of the old anti-Catholic (anti-Irish, anti-Italian, anti-Latin) slurs that actually survives, however deracinated, to the present.

One example of the sort of such slurs that did not survive is 'mackerel-snapper,' deriving from the pre-Vatican II meat fast observed on Fridays, which is also what first put a fish sandwich on McDonald's menu.

[encipriano]

Idk. Anarchy was a very big movement in Spain unlike in the rest of Europe. But its also true that there are some cultural values related to family that are also common in other mediterranean cultures that arent there in northern countries. What I find is being such a social culture, the population itself feels more homogenous in its ideas