It’s July 14, why is today a holiday in France?

It’s the day of the military parade on the Champs-Élysées and fireworks. In France it is simply le 14 Juilletthe July 14 the day of the national holiday, which commemorates an event of 1789, but commemorates one of the following year.

The date

July 14 is a well-known date in the world because it is the date of the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789However, this is not the year we commemorate, but the following. July 14 1790 it is the day of the Federation Day, exactly one year after the Bastille Day, a fundamental date in history, but considered a day too bloody for memory. For all, however, it is the storming of the Bastille.

When the party was born

It was May 21, 1880, when Congressman Benjamin Raspail proposed the law to establish July 14 as a national holiday. Most of the deputies voted for the date with the year 1790.

What happens in France

The traditional appointment is the one with the military parade on the Champs-Élysées. From 1995 to 2006 the President of the Republic Jacques Chirac gave a televised speech on this day, a tradition abandoned by Nicolas Sarkozy. For reasons of economic austerity, Sarkozy himself eliminated the reception in the Elysee gardens after the parade that had been held since 1978. The years of the pandemic limited the demonstrations.

Another tradition are the fires. Precisely during the fireworks display, on 14 July 2016, on the Promenade des Anglais a Nicea lorry attack in the pedestrian zone killed 84 people and injured more than 100.

The storming of the Bastille

Also in theory one remembers another event is the taking of the of Bastille, which took place on Tuesday 14 July 1789, the event that comes to mind with the date 14 July because it is what is commonly associated with the beginning of the French Revolution. As early as July 12, the people of Paris were in revolt, the poor were going against the rich court of Versailles, as Lady Oscar taught an entire generation.

On the morning of Tuesday 14 July, the insurgents attacked theHôtel des Invalides where they took cannons and rifles without finding the gunpowder. They sought her out by storming the Bastille prison-fortress. Pierre-Augustin Hulin took the lead of the insurgents shouting: «Friends, are you good citizens? Yes you are! Then we march towards the Bastille ». For the king, that day was one of many Parisian riots. Legend has it that he asked a servant if it was a rebellion. The latter replied: «No, sire! A revolution! “

Symbol of France on this day is also the national anthem, the Marseillaise. It is a war song which, following France’s declaration of war on Austria, the mayor of Strasbourg, Baron of Dietrich, asked the composer and poet Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle. On April 25, 1792, in rue de la Mésange, he got the inspiration and composed the war hymn dedicated to Marshal Luckner, he was Bavarian, he was commander and was guillotined. The original name was Chante de guerre pour l’Armée du Rhin, War song for the Army of the Rhine. It is called Marseillaise because it is sung in the streets by volunteers from Marseille upon their arrival in Paris in the middle of the Revolution. The Convention decided that La Marseillaise became the national anthem with a decree of 14 July 1795. The hymn was banned by Napoleon I, Louis XVIII and Charles X, between 1807 and 1831. Only in 1876 was La Marseillaise again considered national anthem of France.

– 4th of July, because it is American Independence Day

– Sergio Mattarella, the day of the oath