Happy La Fête Nationale Bastille Day 14th of July 2012 France

Happy Bastille Day to our French friends and to one of the oldest Democracies on Earth. For those of you not totally familiar with Bastille day here is a short explanation.

Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day, which is celebrated on the 14th of July each year. In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale (The National Celebration) and commonly Le quatorze juillet (the fourteenth 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 fortress-prison was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern nation, and of the reconciliation of all the French

Bastille Day La Fête Nationale

inside the constitutional monarchy which preceded the First Republic, during the French Revolution. Festivities and official ceremonies are held all over France. The oldest and largest regular military parade in Europe is held on the morning of 14 July, on the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris in front of the President of the Republic, French officials and foreign guests.

The Bastille Day Military Parade is the French military parade that has been held on the morning of 14 July each year in Paris since 1880.

While previously held elsewhere within or near the capital city, since 1918 it has been held on the Champs-Elysées, with the evident agreement of the Allies as represented in the Versailles Peace Conference, and with the exception of the period of German occupation from 1940 to 1944. 

The parade passes down the Champs-Elysées from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde, where the President of the French Republic, his government and foreign ambassadors to France stand.

This is a popular event in France, broadcast on French TV, and is the oldest and largest regular military parade in Europe. In some years, invited detachments of foreign troops take part in the parade and foreign statesmen attend as guests.

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