Bastille Day, the French national holiday celebrated annually on July 14th (le quatorze juillet), marks the birth of the French Republic.  This holiday is named after the Bastille fortress, an important symbol for the French Republican movement.  While the Bastille fortress, built in 1357, was originally designed to strategically keep invading armies from England out of Paris during the Hundred Years’ War, it evolved into an edifice for political prisoners in the 1700s.  Under the reign of King Louis XVI the French people were suffering from high taxes to cover his debt, food shortages, and limited representation in government. After many years of misrule by the Monarchy, the French people united to free the political prisoners and to rise against their government.  July 14, 1789, marks the date of the violent uprising that helped usher in the French Revolution.

Another symbol of the French Revolution is the tricolor flag, believed by some to represent the causes of the revolution: liberté (freedom/blue), égalité (equality/white), and fraternité (brotherhood/red).   
Prior to the French Revolution the French flag honored the Monarchy and featured the early coat of arms of the French kings in the early 1200s (a blue crest decorated with gold fleurs-de-lis) and the standard of the Bourbon family (a white backdrop with gold fleurs-de-lis).

​Bastille Day is celebrated all around the world. The National Geographic illustrates unique Bastille Day celebrations from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands to Franschhoek, South Africa in its article, 9 Bastille Day bashes that celebrate French culture: Parades, fireworks, and food honor the historic holiday that shaped modern France - (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/lists/seasonal/experience-french-culture-at-these-bastille-day-celebrations/). 

Whether you have French heritage, are a Francophile, or seek a unique way to enjoy French culture, here are 10 fun ways to celebrate this year’s Bastille Day from the comfort of your own home:

1. LEARN MORE ABOUT BASTILLE DAY: To better appreciate the context of Bastille Day in French history,  watch The French Revolution - Full History Documentary on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3AbMUQXft4. This documentary lasts about 1 and 1/2 hours and provides a detailed history of events leading to the French Revolution.  One viewer commented: “Very beautifully laid out documentary. It's brief yet rich in major details of what occurred.” 
2. READ WRITINGS BY THE PHILOSOPHERS CONTRIBUTING TO THE ENGLIGHTENMENT AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: French historians traditionally date the Enlightenment from 1715 to 1789 (from the death of Louis XIV of France until the outbreak of the French Revolution). This intellectual and philosophical movement provided the foundational concepts contributing to the French Revolution. Great philosophers contributing to Enlightenment included Voltaire (who critiqued the divine right of kings, religious dogma, superstition, the profligacy and corruption), Baron de Montesquieu (who developed and refined the idea of the separation of powers), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (who espoused “direct democracy” in which everyone’s votes helped shaped the law) and Denis Diderot (who believed “no man has received from nature the right of commanding others”).  Philosophers of this time valued reason, science, religious tolerance, and what they called “natural rights”—life, liberty, and property.
3. REFLECT ON THE TRICOLOR FRENCH FLAG: Reflect on the values symbolized by the French tricolor flag – freedom, equality, and brotherhood.  Consider other places in the world seeking these values in their countries. Hang the French flag to remind others of France’s struggle for democracy. French flags are readily available from a wide range of online vendors.
4. SET THE MOOD BY DRESSING IN FRENCH ATTIRE: Wear the stylish striped shirt (une marinière or un tricot rayé) worn by sailors in the French Navy. Consider donning un beret, a popular flat wool hat that's worn mainly in the Béarnaise countryside. Although traditionally black, the Basque region uses a red version. French attire can be purchased online.
5. ENJOY A FRENCH GAME IN THE OPEN AIR: Many French people actually keep their July 14th celebrations relatively low-key, taking advantage of the day off by enjoying a picnic and playing  pétanque, a game involving  tossing a metal ball toward a target ball.  Details of how to play this French game are shown at: How to play pétanque? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjmLFKlVHlk). For less than $50.00 at Overstock.com you can purchase a pétanque set that can also be used for bocce. 
6. INDULDGE IN FINE FRENCH CUISINE: Check if your favorite French restaurant offers carry-out food for Bastille Day. Options in the Kansas City area could include Aixois Bistro, Ça Va, Café Des Amis, Café Provence, Charisse, Chez Elle, Crepe KC, French Market, Ibis Bakery, Le Fou Frog, Le Monde Bakery , Tatsu’s French Restaurant, and Tous Les Jours.
7. PREPARE DELECTABLE FRENCH DISHES AT HOME: Check out Bon Appetit’s 23 Summery French Recipes for Bastille Day (https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/slideshow/summer-french-recipes-bastille-day).  These recipes include traditional dishes as well as novel twists on French favorites, such as summer-tomato-bouillabaisse. Another site offers a delicious treat that involves classic ingredients: French caramelized onion, Gruyère or Fontina cheese, and French bread (https://www.foodiecrush.com/french-onion-cheese-bread/).  Délicieuse!
8. RAISE A CELEBRATORY GLASS:  Accompany your French meal with wine from your favorite region of France.  According to Vivino, the best French wines are from Bordeaux; however, champagne may be your toast of choice.  The free Vivino app provides a quick and easy rating of French wines and can be downloaded onto your iphone for easy access when purchasing wine.
9. INCLUDE LA MARSEILLAISE:  Listen to the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, sung by Michel Sardou. This video conveniently includes French lyrics for those interested in joining in (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd5rww9z_2g).
10. CELEBRATE WITH A BANG: Fireworks are typically displayed all over the France; however, one of the most spectacular displays is near Paris’ Eiffel Tower. You can watch last year’s grand fireworks display accompanied by music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdcLt0AJRqo). The cheering of the audience during this magnificent display makes you feel like you are actually there in person! Sit back and enjoy this 32-minute display.

Best Wishes for a Fun Bastille Day Celebration!

Additional Resources: 
French Revolution: https://www.history.com/topics/france/french-revolution
The Fascinating History Behind the French Flag: https://theculturetrip.com/europe/france/articles/fascinating-history-behind-french-flag/
14 Revolutionary Facts About Bastille Day: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/82401/14-revolutionary-facts-about-bastille-day
France's Striped Shirt and Beret: Origins of a Stereotype: https://www.thoughtco.com/french-striped-shirt-beret-origins-stereotype-1368581
Food Critics: The Best French Food In Kansas City: https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2018-04-27/food-critics-the-best-french-food-in-kansas-city

​As I write this, I am currently in quarantine longing for summer vacation.  No one knows how long the requirement for physical distancing will last, or if it will be lifted and then reinstated, as some scientists propose.  However, I suggest we use this time to inject more French in our daily lives.
 
Summer is a wonderful time in Paris.  The tourists invade the capital city, while the natives rush to the countryside or beach.  But for those who cannot leave the City of Lights, there are numerous opportunities to stop and enjoy what life has to offer.  We can emulate that joie de vivre here in the Kansas City metro area.
 
Parisians love to picnic in the Jardin des Tuileries.  Sun King Louis XIV’s gardener, André Le Nôtre, landscaped the gardens in 1664 into a French formal style.  No doubt Molière, who would have been 42 at this time and in the midst of writing three plays (Le Mariage forcé, La Princesse d’Elide, Tartuffe, ou l’Imposteur), saw Le Nôtre’s work when he was in Paris.
 
Rather than packing their own picnic basket, Parisians can order from a restaurant in order to make life simpler, and you can, too. While some restaurants are using the down time to revamp their menu or kitchens in order to better serve you, Chez Elle and Café Provence are open and offering curbside pickup so you can emulate the French lifestyle.
 
You may prefer a light meal in the heat of the day, and Chez Elle Crêperie will hit the spot with their curbside service of three crêpes and two drinks. What better way to have lunch than with a French pancake? Perhaps you can have two savory crêpes and one sweet to take the place of dessert.  Just the perfect size as to not be too heavy to cause the mid-afternoon sleepiness.
 
As the days are longer in June, the extended sunlight allows for more luxurious dinner in your favorite park.  Chef Phillip of Café Provence can provide a three-course, prix fixe dinner encompassing wonderful appetizers such as a hearty salad or pasta dish, a main course of meat or fish, and a mouth-watering French dessert.  All you have to do is find the perfect bottle of wine to accompany your meal and a shady spot to spread your blanket.
 
But if the park is not your style, and you prefer to have your toes in the sand, rest assured—Parisians do, too.
 
Every summer the mayor of Paris brings in sand, palm trees, umbrellas, and lounge seats along both banks of the Seine, and the Paris-Plages are born. You can take your picnic to Shawnee Mission Park which has a 120-acre lake and beach. Of course, you can’t be French if you don’t take your beloved Fido everywhere with you.  Shawnee Mission Park also has a Doggy Beach, a small, sand beach in the park’s off-leash area.  Fido and his amis won’t mind if you dip your toes in the water to cool off a bit!

Along with plays by Molière, the court of Louis XIV was partial to literary fairy tales, considered Art. It was the King’s desire to showcase French culture and tradition and promoting its folklore was a means of doing so. Perhaps the most recognized chronicler, Charles Perrault, enjoyed great favor with the King. Backed by his royal Patron, Perrault consistently collected the tales from country storytellers and then reworked them for the nobility, often rendering them more genteel, less rustic. Their settings were changed from the pastoral to court and sometimes a moral tone was added. In this way, the accounts were restyled into literary narratives, distinguishing them from those of other regions. Perrault’s were some of the first oral histories to be noted and recorded, even preceding the Brothers Grimm, and from them reportedly can be traced the legends of Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, and The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Perrault had been trained as a lawyer but, always drawn to poetry and prose, wrote stories for Louis XIV and in the late 1660s he brought forth Histoires ou contes du temps passe, avec des moralités: Les Contes de ma Mère l’Oye (Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals: Tales of Mother Goose). With this volume, the fairy tale was essentially established and French literary history was forever enhanced. Perrault was appointed to L’Académie Française in 1671.

The stories generally included fairies, enchantments and magic. Mysticism and transformation (from dead to alive, from human to animal and vice versa, spells, occult transportation) were common elements. Traveling was often involved and heroic rescues not infrequently supplied the denouements. 

​With such commanding features, the tales had long enjoyed a real popularity with women, especially of the aristocracy. The subject matter, including physical and sometimes sexual content, could preclude discussion between the sexes, so women-only salons were regularly scheduled affairs – perhaps among the earliest “book clubs”. The salons also offered the women momentary escape from the perils and stress of court life. Story lines and characters would be enthusiastically reviewed and some women would read their own creations. The Countess D’Aulnoy, was one of these writers and, indeed, her “Contes de Fèes” (“tales of fairies”), among which “Goldilocks” is said to be included, may be the origin of the genre moniker. Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve may be credited with penning “Beauty and the Beast”. Sophie Segur, although from a Russian background, was another French tale writer of note.

Many of these educated and intellectual Parisian hostess/writers were labeled “les précieuses” and their writing style “préciosité”, which emphasized refined feminine elegance and comportment to a pretentious, excessive level.  Molière famously scorned these women for their demure sensibilities and in 1659 he satirized them in Les Précieuses Ridicules. Our own esteemed President and Molière scholar, Dr. Felicia Londré, elucidates.
“The précieuses were an obvious target for satirical exposé. They were like tyrants of ‘political correctness’ in their day. Their pretentiousness was most evident in their vocabulary. One could not say a vulgar word like ‘teeth.’ Any servant could name a body part. So the précieuses came up with ‘the furniture of the mouth.’ ‘Eyes’ were ‘the windows of the soul,’ etc. They passed around a map called La Carte du Tendre so they could point to regions of the heart on the map rather than trying to express emotions in common words.
Molière was not inventing those lines about calling a chair ‘an apparatus for conversation’ in his play. The women really did aim for super refinement, and it’s probably a good thing for Molière that the fad for salons had been going strong for a generation. In their zeal to rid the French public stage of vulgarity and violence (so that women could actually attend the theatre!), they had a theatre of broader appeal ready for Molière’s return to Paris.”

So both Molière and Perrault emerged as French literary stars from the royal court. Molière is, of course, considered the pre-eminent playwright of France. Perrault is the godfather of fairy tale history to whom all future creators (including the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen and the Walt Disney Company) must bow.  And both are read by Francophiles everywhere.  Molière is read and studied and performed. Perrault is read and enjoyed and recited. Of course, one must be a strong French speaker to read a Molière play in the original, but a French language student of any level can tackle a Perrault fairy tale.  FluentU highly recommends it.

• It teaches the language in a non- intimidating way. (“When you’re already familiar with the plot of a story, your brain is automatically given a break from trying to understand what you’re reading—and you can shift gears entirely.”)
• It teaches history and French culture. (“Sometimes, he even took inspiration from French architecture—for example, the Loire castle Chateau d’Ussé inspired him to write “Sleeping Beauty.”) 
• It illuminates French traditions and mores. (“Graciousness is more important than physical beauty, and a godmother or godfather is important to success in life. The latter, it seems, must have been an important French custom.”)​

Finally, at KCMOlière400in2022 we must cheer, for obvious reasons, one of Madame d’Aulnoy’s tales, “Felicia and the Pot of Pinks” (“Fortunée”, in French) in which a true princess’s status is restored.  “Lovely Felicia, the day has come at last when I may have the happiness of telling you how even the flowers love you and rejoice in your beauty.”

Sources: fairytalez.com,  Wikipedia.com, fluentu.com