About Bastille Day
Bastille Day is a day of celebrations in the French culture. Many large-scale public events are held, including a military parade in Paris, as well as communal meals, dances, parties, and fireworks. Many people attend large-scale public celebrations. These often include military and civilian parades, musical performances, communal meals, dances, balls and spectacular fireworks displays. There is a large military parade in Paris on the morning of July 14. Service men and women from various units, including cadets from military schools, the French Navy and the French Foreign Legion, participate in the parade. The parade ends with the Paris Fire Brigade. Military aircraft fly over the parade route during the parade. The French president opens the parade and reviews the troops and thousands of people line the route. Other people spend the day quietly and eat a celebratory meal or picnic with family and close friends.
Flowers for Bastille Day
What could be more perfectly French (or perfectly at their peak in July) than lavender? There are several different kinds of lavender available from florists and farmer’s markets this time of year, but true French lavender is Lavandula stoechas and is a great buy as either a cut flower or as a live plant to be planted in the perennial garden afterward. Besides the wonderful, soft fragrance and showy purple wands of this flower, another benefit is that it can be dried and placed in a sachet or little bag to scent a closet, drawer or room.
Significance of Bastille Day
While there are key events in the lead up to 14 July, the storming of the Bastille proved to revolutionaries across Paris and France that the power of King Louis and his control over his armed forces was nominal at best. It became the flash point for the revolution to spread and eventually lead to the overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy and the execution of Louis XVI and his wife Queen Marie Antoinette. The prison was completely destroyed within five months and only a monument now stands on the site in the middle of a cobbled square.