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Bastille Day?


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Talking to my neighbours about stage 10 of the TdF starting from Limoges this year.

Neighbour: When's that then?

Me: Bastille Day

Neighbour: When?

Me: You know, Bastille Day - le Quatorze Juillet

Confused looks all round - Ok says I, what do the French celebrate on 14th July?

Various answers from various family members - end of WW1, Liberation of France in WW1, Liberation of France in WW2 - anything but anything to do with the Bastille.

Is it me? or is it them? [:D]

I've looked up lots on the interweb and they seem to side with me.

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A quote from wikipedia

"Article 17 of the Constitution of France gives the President the authority to pardon offenders, and since 1991 the President has pardoned many petty offenders (mainly traffic offences) on 14 July. In 2007, President Sarkozy declined to continue the practice."

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[quote user="Cendrillon"]Were these French of British neighbours?

[/quote]

French

Also English Wikipedia says

"Bastille Day is the French national holiday, celebrated on 14 July each year . In France, it is called Fête Nationale ("National Celebration") in official parlance, or more commonly le quatorze juillet ("14 July"). It commemorates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789; the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille fortress-prison was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern nation, and of the reconciliation of all the French inside the constitutional monarchy which preceded the First Republic, during the French Revolution."

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