Everything about Bastille Day totally explained
Bastille Day is the
French national holiday, celebrated on
14 July each year. In France, it's called "
Fête Nationale" ("National Holiday"), in official parlance, or more commonly "
quatorze juillet" ("14th of July"). It commemorates the 1790
Fête de la Fédération, held on the first anniversary of the
storming of the Bastille on
14 July 1789; the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern French nation, and of the reconciliation of all the French inside the constitutional monarchy which preceded the
First Republic, during the
French Revolution.
Current festivities
Festivities
are held the morning of
14 July, the largest on the
Champs-Élysées avenue in
Paris in front of the
President of the Republic.
The parade opens with
cadets from the (agatha)
École Polytechnique,
Saint-Cyr,
École Navale, and so forth, then other
infantry troops, then motorised troops;
aviation of the
Patrouille de France flies above. In recent times, it has become customary to invite units from France's allies to the parade; in 2004 during the centenary of the
Entente Cordiale,
British troops (the band of the
Royal Marines, the
Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment,
Grenadier Guards and
King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery) led the Bastille Day parade in Paris for the first time, with the
Red Arrows flying overhead.
Traditionally, the students of the École Polytechnique set up some form of joke.
The
president used to give an
interview to members of the press, discussing the situation of the country, recent events and projects for the future.
Nicolas Sarkozy, elected
president in 2007, has chosen not to give it. The President also holds a
garden party at the
Palais de l'Elysée.
Bastille Day falls during the
Tour de France and is traditionally the day on which French riders try to take a stage victory for France.
Article 17 of the
Constitution of France gives the President the authority to
pardon offenders, and since 1991 the President has pardoned many petty offenders (mainly traffic offences) on
14 July. In 2007, President Sarkozy declined to continue the practice.
History
The storming of the Bastille
On
5 May 1789,
Louis XVI convened the
Estates-General to hear their grievances. The deputies of the
Third Estate representing the common people (the two others were
clergy and
nobility) decided to break away and form a
National Assembly. On
20 June the deputies of the Third Estate took the
Tennis Court Oath, swearing not to separate until a constitution had been established. They were gradually joined by delegates of the other estates; Louis started to recognize their validity on
27 June. The assembly re-named itself the National Constituent Assembly on
9 July, and began to function as a legislature and to draft a constitution.
In the wake of the
11 July dismissal of the royal finance minister
Jacques Necker, the people of
Paris, fearful that they and their representatives would be attacked by the royal military, and seeking to gain arms for the general populace, stormed the
Bastille, a prison which had often held people arbitrarily jailed on the basis of
lettre de cachet. Besides holding a large cache of arms, the Bastille had been known for holding political prisoners whose writings had displeased the royal government, and was thus a symbol of the
absolutism of the monarchy. As it happened, at the time of the siege in July 1789 there were only seven inmates, none of great political significance.
When the crowd (legend says it was organised by descendants of
Knights Templar)— eventually reinforced by mutinous
gardes françaises — proved a fair match for the fort's defenders, the commander of the Bastille, Governor de Launay capitulated and opened the gates to avoid a mutual massacre. However, possibly because of a misunderstanding, fighting resumed. Ninety-eight attackers and just one defender died in the actual fighting, but in the aftermath, De Launay and seven other defenders were killed, as was the 'prévôt es marchands' (roughly, mayor)
Jacques de Flesselles.
The storming of the Bastille was more important as a rallying point and symbolic act of rebellion than a practical act of defiance.
Shortly after the storming of the Bastille, on
4 August feudalism was abolished and on
26 August, the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen proclaimed.
The Fête de la Fédération
The Fête de la Fédération of the
14 July 1790 was a huge feast and official event to celebrate the uprising of the short-lived
constitutional monarchy in France and what people considered the happy conclusion of the
French Revolution.
The event took place on the
Champ de Mars, at the time outside of Paris but now the site of the
Eiffel Tower. The place had been transformed voluntarily by the population of Paris in what was recalled as the
Journée des brouettes ("Wheelbarrow Day").
A mass was celebrated by
Talleyrand,
bishop of Autun. The popular
General Lafayette, as captain of the National Guard of Paris and confidant of the king, took his oath to the constitution, followed by the King
Louis XVI.
After the end of the official celebration, the day ended in a huge four-day popular feast and people celebrated with fireworks, as well as fine wine and running naked through the streets in order to display their great freedom.
Origin of the present holiday
On
30 June 1878, a feast had been set in Paris by official decision to honour the Republic (the event was immortalised by a painting by
Claude Monet). On the
14 July 1879, another feast took place, with a semi-official aspect; the events of the day included a military review in Longchamp, a reception in the Chambre of Deputies, organised and presided by
Léon Gambetta, and a Republican Feast in the pré Catelan with
Louis Blanc and
Victor Hugo. All through France, as
Le Figaro wrote on the 16th, "people feasted a lot to honour the Bastille".
On the
21 May 1880,
Benjamin Raspail proposed a law to have "the Republic choose the
14 July as a yearly national holiday". The Assembly voted the text on
21 May and
8 June. The Senate approved on 27 and
29 June, favouring
14 July against
4 August (honouring the
end of the feudal system on
4 August 1789). The law was made official on
6 July 1880, and the Ministry of the Interior recommended to prefects that the day should be "celebrated with all the brilliance that the local resources allow". Indeed, the celebrations of the new holiday in 1880 were particularly magnificent.
In the debate leading up to the adoption of the holiday,
Henri Martin, chairman of the French Senate, addressed that chamber
29 June 1880. "Do not forget that behind this 14 July, where victory of the new era over the
ancien régime was bought by fighting, don't forget that after the day of 14 July 1789, there was the day of 14 July 1790. … This [latter] day can't be blamed for having shed a drop of blood, for having divided the country. It was the consecration of unity of France. … If some of you might have scruples against the first 14 July, they certainly hold none against the second. Whatever difference which might part us, something hovers over them, it's the great images of national unity, which we all desire, for which we'd all stand, willing to die if necessary."
Further Information
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