Bastille Day

Bastille Day commemorates the seizing of the Bastille prison by the people on 14 July 1789. This was the start of the French Revolution. The prison, despite only holding seven prisoners at the time of its capture, was a symbol of the absolute power of King Louis XV1. By capturing the prison, the people signaled that the monarchy’s reign and their oppression was over.

Being its most important national holiday, France celebrates the 14th of July each year with parties and parades. The festivities start in Paris on Bastille Day Eve with dancing in the Bastille Square, the place where the fortress once stood. On the day itself, celebrations include a military march up the Champs Elysees accompanied by jets overhead. A fireworks display at night takes place at the Trocadero near the Eiffel Tower. In every village in France that day the streets are filled with people having fun and plenty of champagne.

Bastille Day is not only celebrated in France but also in many other places around the world:

• With French community groups, French desire holds a Bastille Day grand ball in Brisbane
• On 60th street in New York, an open air picnic with checkered table cloths is set up along three blocks, from Fifth to Lexington, where the French culture, food and savoir faire are shared by the French American community.
• In LA, the Bastille Day Festival is celebrated in the beautiful gardens of the Page Museum on Wilshire Boulevard with French gastronomic delecacies and live entertainment including a Provencal petanque tournament and a Parisien waiters race.
• Pondicherry on India's south eastern coast celebrates Bastille Day with plenty of French pomp and pageantry with a parade of retired soldiers in war finery singing the French and Indian national anthems, while French flags adorn local houses.
• The Tahitian Heiva i Tahiti festival which concludes on Bastille Day combines French celebrations with traditional native canoe races, fire walking and tattooing.

For facts about Bastille Day, click here.

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