How to Celebrate Bastille Day

Bastille Day, which is celebrated on July 14, is the French national holiday that honors the storming of the Bastille in 1789, sparking the French Revolution. While many people of French heritage make a pilgrimage to Paris every year to celebrate the day, you can also observe La Fete Nationale in many other ways.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Celebrate Bastille Day by making a pilgrimage to France during the week of July 14. Paris, in particular, will be bustling with events and festivals, and you will find endless activities to fill your holiday, such as the Fete de la Federation Feast and the numerous military parades. Plan well in advance, however, since hundreds and thousands of revelers descend upon France every year to celebrate Bastille Day, and hotel reservations tend to fill up quickly.
2. Host a Bastille Day party at your own home, providing plenty of French wine, cheeses, escargot, pate and other Gallic delicacies. Take the time to educate your guests about the meaning of Bastille Day, and its significance to you, especially if you are of French descent. Top the party off with a toast to France, using authentic French champagne to do the honors.
3. Visit a local French restaurant to celebrate Bastille Day. Many French eateries in your hometown will sponsor special events on July 14, such as wine tastings or smaller versions of the Fete de la Federation Feast. This will be an excellent opportunity to learn more about Bastille Day, and to meet others in your area who are of French descent.
4. Attend a local music festival that features French composers in a purely Gallic program. Many local symphony orchestras offer musical performances from composers such as Ravel, Debussy and Berlioz on June 14, or you may wish to experience musical tributes to more modern French artists such as Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf.
5. Sponsor a French film festival at your home, featuring films from the likes of Jean Luc-Godard, Francois Truffaut and Jean Renoir. You may want to concentrate on a certain aspect of French cinema, such as the New Wave, or you may want to choose films that deal specifically with Bastille Day, such as "Quatorze Juillet" or one of the many films about the life and fall of Marie Antoinette.

Tips & Warnings

• If a pilgrimage to Paris on July 14 is slightly beyond your means, you may want to celebrate Bastille Day in a closer location with ties to France, such as Montreal or New Orleans.