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This year's festivities
by Aidan O'Donnell
Article published on the 2008-07-11 Latest update 2008-07-14 10:52 TU
Tanks preparing for the annual parade
© AFP
While the celebrations centre on the parade on the Champs Elysées and the evening fireworks display, there are plenty of other French traditions that mark the day. Most of these are great, although a few of them are less than magnifique.
You won't feel too proud of the république's infrastructure if you're bogged down somewhere in the 400km traffic jam that kicks off the weekend. The 14 juillet celebrations traditionally mark the start of the vacation period for many French workers who inch along bumper to bumper to get out of the big cities. The moral here is that, wherever you are on the weekend of the 14th, don't try to go anywhere else.
If you're a French police officer, 14 of July will probably mean overtime this year. A record 8,000 police will be keeping order and, with all the foreign dignitaries in town, things should be particularly hectic. Paris police have helpfully advised good citizens to leave handbags at home so as to avoid having to empty the contents out in front of some gendarme. He might well think you want to emulate that Frenchman who, either through excess of patriotism or for want of it, took a pot-shot at Jacques Chirac six years ago in the midst of the national festivities.
It's also a less than vintage event if you're a French citizen abroad this year. Overseas embassies traditionally held "open days" during which anyone with a French passport could show up at the local diplomatic headquarters for a glass or two of patriotism. This is being cut back this year. The word from head office at the Quai d'Orsay is that "if your name's not on the list, you won't be welcome". Passport or no passport.
The main attraction of the 14 juillet remains intact though. The parade runs from about 10.15am to midday on the Champs Élysées but won't start until the bold Nicolas appears. It features a few score planes and helicopters, foot-soldiers, parachutists and enough tanks to start a war, or at least a skirmish.
The big break with parade tradition this year is that it won't be the students of the prestigious École polytechnique that will lead the marchers, but two contingents of UN blue helmets. UN chief Ban Ki-moon will be there in person as the guest of honour to ensure things don't get out of hand. Expect crowds and don't imagine you'll see everything, but the bustle itself is worth the effort, at least once.
Another piece of information crucial to celebrating properly is that French firemen have balls — in fact they have two. The first bal populaire happens on the eve of the national holiday and is followed by another one at the close of the day itself. These involve good-humoured dancing, cheap beer and (usually) agreeable summer temperatures for a small entrance fee or a contribution to the (collection) barrel.
The ball on the 13th has the not insignificant advantage of being followed by a day off for most of the French. About a dozen fire stations in Paris, and another two dozen in the greater Paris region, will play host to dancing music, drink and lots of friendly firemen. The dances run from around nine at night to four in the morning and the atmosphere can vary from homely neighbourhood gathering to imitation nightclub, depending on the time of the night and the neighbourhood you pick.
Other events involve feminists scaling statues to attach beards of protest and French cyclists trying to snatch a stage win in the Tour de France.
