Bastille Day (Fête nationale)

Culture of origin: National · National holiday

Holiday sources: France

On 14 July 1789 a Paris crowd stormed the Bastille, a fortress-prison that stood for arbitrary royal imprisonment and was thought to hold gunpowder; it held only seven inmates. The national day also recalls the Fête de la Fédération of 14 July 1790, which celebrated the unity of the French nation. It is marked across France, and in Paris a military parade on the Champs-Élysées passes before the President.