Bastille Day

On 21 May 1880, Benjamin Raspail, a member of the French National Assembly in Paris, put forward the following bill: "That the Republic should adopt 14 July as an annual national holiday". The proposal was approved by the Chamber of Deputies on 8 June and ratified by the Senate on the 29th of the same month; the law was promulgated on 6 July, whilst the Minister of the Interior had already formed a commission responsible for deciding on the programme for the day, in order to ensure that the holiday would have a national flavour from its very first year. Secular ceremonies in schools, inaugurations of Republican statues, distribution of food to the poor, illuminations, bell-ringing, hoisting of flags and reviewing the troops were therefore encouraged across France, according to the goodwill and budgetary resources of the municipalities. Indeed, the active involvement of the army was intended to bring together all those afflicted by the loss of Alsace and Lorraine after the crushing defeat at Sedan, which had led to the surrender of the French army to the Prussians in 1870 and the signature of the Treaty of Frankfurt on 10 May 1871.

14 July 1880 was intended to be a celebration of the upsurge in patriotism in the country, with the handing over of flags to the reconstituted regiments, which had been put off for several years. The loss of the standards on the Prussian front in 1870 had been a traumatic event that could only be put right by a highly symbolic celebration. The primary function of this first national holiday, which established allegiance to Marianne as a personification of the Republic, was to ensure national unity and re-establish France’s military power by calling on the collective memory. Busts of Marianne were inaugurated in public places, and citizens were able to buy lithographs from kiosks that represented her wearing the Phrygian cap, the symbol of freedom conquered by the people, and draped with the tricolour or surrounded by a bundle of flags (the symbol of a triumphant nation).

Patriotic elation based on shared hopes was quickly coupled with the exhilaration of gatherings in the brightly lit streets and public dances, with fairground stalls and, above all, fireworks. The latter, which set the night skies of French towns and villages ablaze, have played their part in the longevity of the event and its traditional rites.

No Bastille Day without fireworks!

People are fascinated by fireworks. Originally designed for military use, they were first invented in the mysterious China of the Middle Ages. In the popular imagination they are the embodiment of extravagance and magic. According to historians, the first pyrotechnic spectacle worthy of the name took place in Paris on 5 April 1612 on Place Royale, now Place des Vosges in the Marais district. The marriage of King Louis XIII and Anne of Austria was the occasion for a mock battle, with a great array of bombards and muskets loaded with blanks.

Pyrotechnic celebrations were to gain popularity in the major capitals of Europe. A royal wedding or the birth of a prince, a military victory or a peace treaty never passed by without a display of ever-more spectacular fireworks. Particularly under the reign of Louis XIV. The Sun King was aware that "the people like a spectacle" and he made it an instrument of his domestic policy. "That," he said, "is how we will win over hearts and minds."

It was in the 18th century however, with "the ingenious inventions of the Ruggieri", five brothers, all firework makers who had arrived from Bologna in 1739, that the "pyric art" reached a truly grandiose scale in Europe. The family long held practically a monopoly on shows featuring fire.

More than any others, they excelled in an art which, according to an author at the time, "charms the eye without harming it and pleases the ear without terrifying it." Jack-of-all-trade inventors, chemists and men of the theatre as well as clever courtiers, the members of the Ruggieri clan quickly transformed themselves into shrewd businessmen, to the great delight of vast numbers of people. Their legacy still endures, orchestrating the 14 July festivities in a spectacular combination of colours and shapes.

Since then, Bastille Day, a national holiday combined with a festival of sheer pleasure, has been an expression of the commemoration of collective memories and shared hopes, whilst legendary, transcendent historical events are celebrated in the pure joy of a summer’s evening, where the brilliance of the fireworks gives citizens the opportunity to unite around the motto of the French republic: "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity."

Source: Actualité en France n° 25, July 2009