In 2015, several French organizations in Vancouver decided to join forces to present together the Bastille Day Festival. The non-profit organization "Bastille Day Festival Society" was born from this collaboration. We are an independent organization managed by volunteers, whose purpose is to celebrate the French National Day, July 14, and to discover the French presence by sharing our culture with the people of Vancouver. The Bastille Day Festival Society is open to anyone wishing to get involved as volunteer in the organization of this event.
A bit of history: Aux barricades! Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day which is celebrated on July 14 each year. In France, it is formally called 'la fête nationale' and commonly ‘le quatorze juillet’.
On July 14, 1789 a starving, poor and oppressed mob of 8,000 people stormed ‘La Bastille’, a medieval fortress and prison in Paris, emblem of the Royal authority. For the popular class, the Bastille stood as a symbol of the hypocrisy and corruption of the monarchic government - controlled mostly by nobility and clergy. The storming of La Bastille was the spark that set off the French Revolution, the end of the monarchy and the beginning of the modern republic.
This revolution led to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 26 August 1789 - the precursor to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948.
Vive la France... in Vancouver! Vancouver is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in North America. Indeed, 52% of its residents have a first language other than English.