{"id":27309,"date":"2017-07-11T05:40:51","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T03:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=27309"},"modified":"2017-11-06T15:05:36","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T14:05:36","slug":"why-bastille-day-is-not-really-bastille-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/why-bastille-day-is-not-really-bastille-day\/","title":{"rendered":"French holidays: Bastille Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Friday (vendredi<\/strong>), le quatorze juillet<\/strong> (July 14),<\/em> is la f\u00eate nationale fran\u00e7aise, <\/strong>known in the United States and many parts of the world as Bastille Day<\/a>. And if you’re like many francophiles, you may think this day celebrates the storming of the royal prison of la Bastille on July 14, 1789 … and you’d be right, but only partly so!<\/p>\n

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Officially established as la f\u00eate nationale<\/strong> (the national holiday)<\/em> by the French Assembl\u00e9 in 1880, the festivities do indeed celebrate the storming of the Bastille as the start of the revolution, but perhaps more importantly the 14th is also the anniversary of la F\u00eate de la F\u00e9d\u00e9ration<\/strong> (a celebration of the ideals of the French Revolution – la libert\u00e9, la fraternit\u00e9, et l\u2019\u00e9galit\u00e9 <\/strong> \/ liberty, brotherhood, and equality<\/em> – and of the nation) during which Louis XVI himself (before, of course, famously losing his head later!) and other representatives of the young republic swore an oath to the constitution, promising to uphold the laws of the new nation.<\/p>\n

The ceremonies of this first F\u00eate de la F\u00e9d\u00e9ration\u00a0<\/strong>were led by the Marquis de LaFayette (whom Louis XVI had named as commander of the troops in Paris after his return from supporting the American colonists in their recent bids to win independence from the other great European monarchy of the day, Great Britain) and took place on the Champs de mars\u00a0 <\/strong>(named, not for the month of March, but for the Roman god of battle, Mars [Greek: Ares or Aries]) which is framed today by the Eiffel Tower at one end and H\u00f4tel des Invalides at the other.<\/p>\n

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As today, the early celebrations of the 14th involved local dances and military parades<\/a>. In 1989, year of the bicentennial celebrations, I was lucky enough to spend juillet<\/strong> in Paris and to participate in three days of bals, defilies, feux d’artifices,<\/strong> and more (balls, parades, fireworks).<\/em> La nuit du 14<\/strong> (the night of the 14th), <\/em>we even went out to a night club<\/a> after the final fireworks, danced till dawn, and then went back to the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es for le petit-d\u00e9jeuner au lev\u00e9 du soleil!<\/strong> (breakfast at sunrise) <\/em>In the clips below you can see highlights from the amazing d\u00e9fil\u00e9<\/strong> along the Champs and the world-famous Opera singer, Jessye Norman, performing the French national anthem, La Marseillaise*, from the Place de la Concorde.
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https:\/\/youtu.be\/Mub6RhlGj6g<\/a><\/p>\n