Today is July 14 and in France it’s officially called “La Fête Nationale” (the National Holiday) although most often we hear, “le quatorze juillet” (the 14th of July). Interestingly, none of our French friends ever say “Bastille Day” even when they are brave enough to practice English with us. Apparently the name was just a practical choice since neither of those translations above would have much meaning except in France—think “4th of July” outside of the US for a comparison. Given that today is such a beloved holiday here, I wanted to investigate further its origin and make some comparisons with America’s Independence Day.

July 14 was officially established as La Fête Nationale in 1880 and most of us would think that it commemorates the 1789 storming of the Bastille, a prison used by the King to hold political enemies. Some would argue, however, that the holiday we know today actually celebrates the July 14, 1790 march on Paris by 14,000 soldiers from across France in a sign of solidarity and national unity. It’s also interesting to note that the main goal of taking the Bastille was not to free the prisoners—there were only seven—but to obtain the guns and ammunition that were stockpiled there.

In the US, Frenchman Eugene Eleazar had tried unsuccessfully to raise interest in a Bastille Day celebration in New Orleans. But in another Louisiana town, Kaplan, where many descendants of French Canadian settlers lived, he found the people much more receptive and they have been observing this national holiday there since 1906.

So we know that at the end of the 1700s, colonial Americans rebelled against King George III and French revolutionaries did the same to King Louis XVI. It seems that on both sides of the Atlantic the everyday woman and man felt that they were being taxed unfairly and had no say in how they were being governed. Now, more than 200 years after those unsettled times, the festivities that mark the events are remarkably similar.

Each year in Carcassonne, July 14 starts with a small parade of soldiers while in Paris it’s a major armed forces event with a big show of military power including jets in formation, la Patrouille de France, similar to the Blue Angels. Later in the day there are picnics and other outdoor parties culminating in a fireworks show—in Paris that’s off of the Eiffel Tower. Here, the big event takes place above the walled medieval Cité. We used to live in the shadow of those walls and towers so not only did we see the 20-minute spectacular display in the sky, we felt the “boom” of every one of those explosions. Although we’ve moved away from those walls, a few hours from now we’ll still be celebrating with our fellow residents the Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité of France!

The photos that you see here are all ones that Bill took 2 years ago when we stayed in a hotel just across the river from the walled Cité.