Emily in France 🇫🇷 Happy Bastille Day!
Bastille Day is not called Bastille Day, in France.
Bastille Day is, for all intents and purposes, the French version of Independence Day – a July holiday known for fireworks and cookouts and the annual fireman's ball, which I have always planned to attend and never actually attended. For years, my Bastille Days were spent at the annual village party in Paziols, where I worked as a camp counselor for nearly a decade, drinking local wine and eating freshly grilled sausages and dancing until the sun came up.
But Bastille Day is called Bastille Day only by foreigners; the French, when they call it something other than "le 14" – the 14th – call it Fête de la Fédération, or Federation Day. It commemorates, not the storming of the Bastille – a largely symbolic gesture that is largely recognized as one of the first acts of the French Revolution, despite the prison that lent its name to the modern square containing a grand total of seven prisoners at the time – but rather the recognition, a year later, of the Revolution by the King of France.
Yep, France had a king again in 1790.
If history has taught us anything, it's that Revolution is a slow, odd beast, one in which steps forward are often erased by three or four or five steps back. It takes a long time to reach the finish line. It takes a long time to finalize something that will be documented in history books, painted in large strokes as though it were inevitable.
This July 14th, there will be no fireman's ball. There will be fireworks, but the Champ de Mars – a popular viewing point – will be closed to the public. Today, the sky in Paris, in what feels like the most mood-appropriate weather we've had since confinement, is grey and bleak. And while I recognize the gross imperfections in this country that I have adopted and that has adopted me, I remain nevertheless grateful for the underlying value of égalité – equality – that spurred the Revolution of 1789 and those that followed.
What I'm Eating
1. Asparagus, burrata, and more on quiet terrace of Les Enfants Perdus.
2. Heaps of fresh heirloom courgettes from Le Doyenné's weekly market baskets, delivered to Ten Belles each Friday.
3. More white peaches than any one person really has a right to from La Ruche Qui Dit Oui.
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What I'm Writing
1. I contributed where I want to travel once the pandemic is over for Inside Hook.
2. Squash blossoms are in season; I like to stuff them with sheep's milk cheese, batter, and fry them. Find my recipe on EatingWell.
3. Rachel Cusk's Outline is an intriguing exploration of how much a reader needs to know about a narrator to be interested. I reviewed this book on my blog.
What I'm Reading
1. This story about the Revolutionary remains discovered in the walls of one Parisian monument, in the Guardian.
2. This look at how the Black Death gave rise to British pub culture in Atlas Obscura.
3. For the journalists out there, this episode of Rebecca Weber's podcast on the myth – and risks – of overpitching.
A bientôt !