Dear William (and Daniel, Catherine, Michael & Baby Girl Y) (and your parents), (and any future descendants and their parents),
This Day in History: Bastille Day! In 1789 Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops storm and dismantle the Bastille, a royal fortress that had come to symbolize the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs. This dramatic action signaled the beginning of the French Revolution.
Bastille
France, a country in Europe
Bastille Day is the French National Day which is celebrated on 14 July of 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 storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. The storming of the Bastille fortress-prison was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern nation of France. Festivities and official ceremonies are held all over France; and French communities throughout the world.
In the United States, many cities conduct annual celebrations — in New York City, Bastille Day celebrations are held each July, including Bastille Day on 60th Street between Fifth and Lexington Avenues on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Bastille Day on Smith Street in Brooklyn, and Bastille Day in Tribeca.
French flag -- blue, white and red
Le Tricolore — the bleu, blanc, rouge French flag took shape during the French Revolution. The colors represent the Republic’s three ideals: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity for all French citizens. Liberté, égalité, fraternité! – was the motto of the French Revolution. On this day, the Empire State Building in New York City is illuminated in blue, white and red.
Empire State Building in N.Y.C. on Bastille Day
July 14, 1969
Pawel in front of the Eiffel Tower.
From my album: July 14, Bastille Day, there was a military parade, which we missed because we had to take our luggage to the train station. This day we visited the Arc De Triomphe, The Eiffel Tower, and we walked around the St. Michel area where we saw the Pantheon and Sorbonne. We tried to see the Saint Chapelle, Musee de Cluny, the Conciergerie and the Rodin Museum, but, because it was Bastille Day, everything was closed. In the evening about 10 pm, we took a train to Lourdes. As we were traveling through France that night, we could see and hear celebrations all throughout the country.
In 2007, when Babcia Krysia and I went to the Bastille Day celebration on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, this is what we saw:
The Can-Can, the erotic dance.
William — Bastille Day is a day of celebration in modern times; but, as I recently told you, remember, history happens every day; today it is news; tomorrow it is history. When you study history in school; be mindful that it was news to the people that lived through it. Be respectful of the past; and learn from it.
When it actually happened, Bastille Day was a very bloody day, many people died; and it was just the beginning of a period in France’s history when many more people died; many, simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, or because they were related to the “wrong” people.
Love,
Dziadziuś Paweł.
Back to Annual Albums OR Family Letters
