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“Today is ‘Bastille Day’!” I told my husband during breakfast. “And we are in France to celebrate!”
Last year, on July 14, 2019, our family had just moved to Spain. There were no fireworks to see and hear on ‘Bastille Day’ in Spain.
This year, we are traveling through France to visit friends and family, and there will still be no fireworks to see and hear.
It’s not because we are in a country where they aren’t celebrating! Rather, because of the COVID-19 restrictions, it seems that most ‘Bastille Day’ celebrations and firework displays are cancelled.
It doesn’t matter, today is still ‘Bastille Day,’ and we are in France to celebrate. We are watching the parade in Paris on TV this morning—in honor of French health care workers, we are gathering with friends for a barbecue this afternoon, and then we are going out to a nearby town for an outdoor concert. There may not be any fireworks to see and hear, but that certainly won’t keep us from celebrating!
Here’s my story from last year . . .
July 14, 2019
Just like there were no fireworks for this American gal 10 days ago, there will be no fireworks for this French boy today.
July 14 is a special day for the French people—for my French husband, for my French children, for me. I am French too!
Just like on July 4—Independence Day in the United States of America—July 14 carries a lot of symbolism and meaning for the country of France.
We call it “Bastille Day” in English.
“Bastille Day”
“Bastille Day” is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on July 14 each year. In French, it is formally called La Fête Nationale. It is the anniversary of Storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, a turning point of the French Revolution.
Wikipedia
In all of our years living in France, we could fully enjoy “Bastille Day.” In the morning of July 14, we would watch the national parade in Paris on television and the aerial show—proudly showing off the nation’s tricolors of red, white, and blue. At night, fireworks displays are held in most major towns and cities. Families and friends gather together to celebrate.
While living in southwestern France recently for seven years, our tradition was to walk from our house to the main square of our town. We would enjoy the beautiful fireworks display in the sky over the town hall and then go to the local fair for the kids to ride some rides and to eat crêpes and gauffres (waffles). It was a day to enjoy being with friends and family. It was a day of French pride.
Americans Celebrating French Culture
Even in our years in the U.S., we would sometimes find area “Bastille Day” celebrations. I can remember spending a year in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Each year, around July 14, they have a weekend event called “Bastille Days.” We can remember going and enjoying French food, French music, French products . . . We would even rub shoulders with other French immigrants in the area. It was a fun French celebration that reconnected us with our French roots—even across the Atlantic Ocean.
Bastille Days, Milwaukee’s popular French festival and one of the nation’s largest French-themed celebrations, returns to downtown Milwaukee’s Cathedral Square Park, July 11 – 14. The free four-day bash attracts over 250,000 visitors annually who enjoy live music, an international marketplace, chef and wine demos, French and Cajun cuisine, roaming busker entertainment and a signature 43-foot Eiffel Tower replica offering hourly light shows.
East Town
However, this year, we are not in France, and we are not in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We are in Spain.
Can We Celebrate in Spain?
As soon as we arrived here in Spain a few weeks ago, I searched on the internet for a July 14 “Bastille Day” celebration in the city. I found one! I was so excited.
The information I found in Le Petit Journal said that the city’s “Bastille Day” celebration would be held on July 11, rather than July 14, because the holiday fell on a Sunday this year.
The celebration would be held at the “Résidence de France” by invitation only. In order to get an invitation, you had to be “registered” at the local French Consulate.
You Must Register Your Family!
When French citizens arrive in a foreign country, they are required to “register” online with the local French Consulate. This allows the French government to know where their citizens are residing. For security reasons, this also allows the Consulate to contact its citizens in case of an emergency, etc.
We have always registered—wherever we have lived outside of France—in Morocco, in the U.S. Now, we would have to do it in Spain.
Actually, as American citizens, we also have to do this with the local American Consulate. The U.S. Consulates are great about sending us up-to-date information about the state of security in the local area, as well as any national news that perhaps we wouldn’t receive as expatriates in a foreign country. They also remind us to vote and give us detailed instructions on how to do that as an immigrant in another land.
I quickly gave the information about the local “Bastille Day” celebration to Vincent. He would need to quickly register our family online with the French Consulate in Spain so that we could receive a formal invitation to the July 11 celebration.
I thought, “It would be great to be introduced to the French community in our new city. Perhaps we can make some French friends here locally. ‘Bastille Day’ here we come!”
We Are Going to Miss It!
Vincent tried to register us online. Unfortunately, the French Consulate requires you to have your official Spanish residence number before you can register. Our appointment at the government office to receive our residence number is this Friday, July 19.
Too bad! We just barely missed “Bastille Day” in Spain this year. However, next year, we will hopefully receive our official invitation from the French Consulate so that we can join our fellow French expatriates in Spain to celebrate La Fête Nationale.
In the end, there will be no fireworks for this French boy.
Thankfully, we don’t need fireworks and we don’t need other French citizens to celebrate today.
We are a French family and proud of our heritage. It is worth celebrating—whether at the Résidence de France or at our family home!
We may have missed and forgotten the “French Crêpe Day” and the famous “King’s Cake”—”La Galette des Rois,” but we will not miss “Bastille Day“!
This afternoon, Vincent made a traditional French dessert, a cherry clafotis, in honor of his country and his cultural roots.
Clafoutis, sometimes spelled clafouti in Anglophone countries, is a baked French dessert of fruit, traditionally black cherries, arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter. The clafoutis is dusted with powdered sugar and served lukewarm, sometimes with cream.
Wikipedia
Tonight, we will enjoy Vincent’s French culinary masterpiece and sing our national anthem, “La Marseillaise.”
Will you join us in singing?
There will be no fireworks for this French boy—for this French family. But, no matter what, we are forever French and very proud of it.
Vive la France!
—The Cultural Story-Weaver
Let’s Weave Cultures!
Have you ever been out of your country and missed celebrating an important national holiday? What did you do? How did you feel? Were you able to find a local celebration?
We invite you to tell us your own cultural stories and global adventures . . . as you engage with the world, breaking down barriers, building bridges, and “weaving cultures!” Write about them in the comment box below.
