La Fête Nationale!


Salut tout le monde!
Aujourd’hui, c’est une fête- La Fête Nationale! J’aimerais être chez mes parents ou chez Aurélie. Quand nous avions dix ans, Aurélie et moi, nous sommes allées à Paris avec ses parents. Nous nous sommes promenées et nous avons regardé les feux d'artifice.
Oh, France me manque quelquefois…

I had to relive some past memories for a moment; today is La Fête Nationale! In America, it is probably better known as Bastille Day. Christelle, Sandrine, and I are celebrating, although Christelle is too homesick...
Before I talk about traditions and such, I should share a brief history of this holiday.

On July 14, 1789, the Bastille prison (which represented the monarchy) was stormed by Parisians to show their contempt towards the monarchy, especially in a time of economic crisis. A month later, La Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen (The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen) was written to define and defend the rights of all citizens. The Parisian militia abandoned wearing symbols of the royals (namely the fleur-de-lis in a blue field on a white background) and began to wear a cockade of blue and red. White was later added, thus becoming le tricolore- or “tricolor”- our country’s flag.

That was just an extremely brief history; now, onto some things I have done to celebrate…

The most memorable Bastille Day was when I was 10. Aurélie and her family took me to Paris with them, and we watched the parade on the Champs-Elysées. Later in the evening, we took a boat ride down the Seine and watched fireworks. They looked particularly amazing over the Eiffel Tower.

Bastille Day in Lille is extremely similar; there are still military and civilian parades, fireworks, music, dancing, etc.

I’ve also been in Nice for Bastille Day, and that is beautiful…

There is normally a picnic on the grounds of Versailles, and most people in attendance wear white. I would love to go to one!

Tonight, we are going to light some fireworks and celebrate. I still cannot help but miss France, though. I always become extremely homesick at this time of the year; I want to celebrate with my family and friends…

Sabine

6 comments

Blakeney Green said...

Happy Bastille Day, Sabine! Thanks for telling us about La Fête Nationale. It sounds like a lot of fun!

Sorry you can't magically transport yourself to France for the day - we can see why you miss it. Hope you have a good time anyway, though!

Love,
Bree

Miranda said...

Happy Bastille day! I can tell why you want to go back to France for the day, but it doesn't really matter WHERE you are, you can still have a great time! :D

Oh, and I'm currently learning French, so I can go visit the country one day... :)

~Miranda

Anonymous said...

Thank you Sabine, for telling us about Bastille Day. It sounds a lot like Independence Day here, with fireworks and parades. I hope you enjoy celebrating it tonight.
Poor Christelle, I understand why she's so homesick. I'm sure having you and Sadrine around will help her feel a little bit better.
Love,
Rebecca and Summer

Lucy said...

Hello, Sabine! I'm Lucy. =) Happy (late) Bastille Day! It sounds like a fun holiday... we learned about it in school when I lived in Boston.

I would love to go to France someday. It seems like such a charming country.

Montana Girls said...

What an interesting holiday, Sabine! I know holidays are the hardest days to be away from home.

--Mac--

Juliette, Lucie et Claudette said...

Happy (Belated) Bastille Day Sabine! I know exactly how you're feeling. I just posted a while ago about my terrible bout of homesickness and the arrival of this holiday made it all come rushing back to me. Thanks for posting the history of Bastille Day. It's fun to educate people, isn't it? When I tried to explain Bastille Day to our roommate Drew, I just pointed her to your blog!

Love,
Juliette