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| Image from Frenchly.us |
Because this column comes out on Saturday the 8th and the 14th of July falls on this coming Friday, today is my best chance to address the question of the coming French National Day -- and specifically advise people on what to say to your French friends to greet the holiday. I am willing to bet you were taught in middle school -- or whenever you
first studied the French Revolution -- to say, “Happy Bastille Day!”
Well, don’t. French people just don’t say that. It would be
as if we were to say, on the Fourth of July, “Happy Signing of the Declaration
of Independence Day.”
The 14th of July may have been chosen because it
was the day of the storming of the Bastille – the event that kick-started the French
Revolution – but for deeply hidden reasons that I could not quite fathom (meaning,
I couldn’t find out by doing a thirty-second Google search), using the name
Bastille Day for this event is something that seems to have stuck only outside
of France proper. Within France and among native French speakers, the day is
simply known as Quatorze Juillet – that is, July 14th. Don’t believe
me, or my French relatives? Read it here: http://frenchly.us/france-doesnt-celebrate-bastille-day-2/
While French people living abroad have become used to hearing English
speakers call it Bastille Day, if you use the term within France, you might get
some odd looks.
On the other hand, here in America, even the French embassy
calls it Bastille Day ….as they invite you to attend their Bastille Day Party. Please note that it's NOT actually on Quatorze Juillet but on Quinze Juillet -- that is, the 15th, which falls on Saturday. (You can still buy tickets -- $95 to $175 per person – at https://franceintheus.org/spip.php?article8166)
The theme this year is New Orleans Fun and Food, so maybe the name Bastille Day is in the
style of the New World Celebration.
Whatever you call it, Happy National Day to La Belle France!
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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.
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