The French National Day (La Fete Nationale) falls on 14th July and is marked throughout France (and by French colonies and ex-patriate French citizens throughout the world) by marches, speeches, wreath laying ceremonies, music and fireworks.
Outside France, the day is more commonly known as Bastille Day, because it commemorates the storming of the Bastille Prison in Paris in 1792 which was the beginning of the French Revolution.
The French Revolution and the Bastille Prison
A mob of about 8000 people stormed the Bastille Prison on 14th July 1792 with the intention of looting the weapons and gunpowder which were stored inside. Only seven people were incarcerated there at the time; releasing the prisoners was very much an afterthought on the part of the mob.
Although some of those who stormed the prison undoubtedly helped themselves to pieces of stone and mortar, they did not tear down the walls. This was done in the November of the same year by professional demolition gangs. The act of storming the Bastille was of great symbolic importance in setting off the process of Revolution although it was quite an insignificant act in terms of what it gained for the revolutionaries in terms of power or equipment.
The Revolution itself was sparked by taxes on grain and the high price of food in the French capital. The common people of France rebelled against the power of the aristocracy and during a period known as "the Terror", executed many French aristocrats (including King Louis XVl and his queen, Marie Antoinette) by means of the guillotine. Louis XVl was decapitated on the Place de la Concorde in January 1793 and his wife (known after his death as "the widow Capet") was executed in the following October.
The famous quotation (on being told that the people had no bread) "Then let them eat cake" (S'ils n'ont plus de pain, qu'ils mangent de la brioche) is attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette, supposedly demonstrating the ignorance and callousness of the aristocracy with regard to the starving French peasants. The quotation actually comes from a book by Jean-Jacques Rousseau written in 1740, long before Marie Antoinette was even born, but is illustrative of the sort of upper class attitudes and insensitivity which were root causes of the Revolution.
Bastille Day in the Twenty First Century
In Paris, every 14th July, the largest and oldest regular military parade in Europe is held along the Champs- Elysees Avenue, in the presence of the French president and invited guests from France and from other parts of the world.
Throughout France in every town and village, Bastille Day is celebrated with marching bands, speeches by local dignitaries which emphasise the importance of good citizenship and reaffirm the values of Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite, and the laying of wreaths at War Memorials throughout the land.
On the evening of July 14th (and often throughout the whole of that week), France is en fete, with evening firework displays and musical events taking place in every corner of the country. It's a very special time of year with a unique atmosphere, strongly illustrative of French patriotism and patrimonie, that very special relationship the French have with their homeland.
Bastille Day in France is a very special occasion and well worth making the effort to experience if the opportunity ever presents itself. The heady mixture of patriotism and hedonism which characterises this time of year is uniquely French and helps the visitor to gain a deeper understanding of a beautiful,complex country and its people.
Sources:
Robb,Graham, The Discovery of France, Picador London 2007
France, Dorling Kindersley, London 2003
Rousseau, Jean-Jaques, Les Confessions, Paris 1782
http://irishherault.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/bastille-facts-myths/
