How to Celebrate Bastille Day

The French nation celebrates Bastille Day on July 14 to memorialize the 1789 storming of the Bastille, a Paris prison. The Bastille symbolized the oppressive regime of the French monarchy and its storming planted the root of the nation's revolutionary ideals. Whether you want to commemorate the birth of liberty and democracy or just enjoy a good party, with this article you can bring the French celebration into your own home.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• French recipes and ingredients
• Wine or champagne
• Scissors, glue and blue, red, white and gold construction paper
• The movie "Casablanca" or sheet music for France's national anthem "La Marseillaise"

1. Prepare and enjoy a French meal reminiscent of the 17th and 18th centuries. Hallmarks of the French table in that era relied on quality ingredients and included soups, pastries, game birds like pheasant and partridge, and fresh seasonal produce and pastries. Many cooking websites can provide recipes.
2. Study the history of the Bastille. Browse the library shelves for a good read, like Simon-Nicolas-Henri Linguet's account of his time in the prison. Explore a website Chez Jim's "Welcome to the Bastille" that will introduce you to the landmark as if you were a prisoner.
3. Dance the night away as if you were at a café in Paris! Many Parisians celebrate Bastille Day with balls or with café and bistro dances. Let the wine and champagne flow.
4. Raise the French flag or, to get children involved, make your own out of construction paper. The tri-color flag was introduced during the French Revolution. The blue panel is the color of royalty and sports a gold fleur-de-lis. The red panel symbolizes the kingdom and the white represents the French navy.
5. Sing France's national anthem "La Marseillaise" which was composed in 1792 and quickly became a revolutionary march. If you do not know the words or tune, watch the movie "Casablanca" set during World War II when half of France was occupied by the Nazis. The patrons of Rick's Café Americain sing a rousing rendition of the national anthem as they are once more struggling for their freedom just as their ancestors did on Bastille Day.