France Marks National Holiday - 'Bastille Day'

French people all over the world mark Bastille Day Saturday as a celebration of the uprising of the modern French "nation".

Military parades are held on the morning of 14 July, the largest of which takes place on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris in front of the President of the Republic.

Many cities across France and the world will set off fireworks on Thursday evening. In France it is also customary that firemen organise dancing parties (bals du 14 juillet).

Bastille Day is celebrated on 14 July each year. It is called Fete Nationale (National Holiday) in France. It commemorates the 1790 Fete de la Federation, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. The Fete de la Federation was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern French "nation," and of the reconciliation of all the French inside the constitutional monarchy which preceded the First Republic, during the French Revolution.

Bastille Day became an official celebration in 1880. On the 21 May 1880, Benjamin Raspail presented a law proposal to have "the Republic choose the 14 July as a yearly national holiday". The law was made official on 6 July 1880.

The day officially celebrates the 1790 Fete de la Federation, though it is often associated, even in France, with the Storming of the Bastille.

Vive la France!