Bastille Day French Vocabulary - le 14 Juillet, La Fête Nationale

July 11, 2016 | By Camille Chevalier-Karfis 

July the 14th is the French national day - it's called "Bastille day" outside of France but never in France! "Le Quatorze Juillet" is a day of celebrating French culture. Numerous public events take place: military parades, city meals, dances, parties and many amazing fireworks. But what are French people really doing on that day?

Bastille Day in French : le Quatorze Juillet

In France, if you talked about “le jour de la Bastille”, people would be dumfounded. They may not even understand what you mean. In France, we never speak of “Bastille Day”. The name of France national day is either “la fête nationale” (national day) or “le quatorze juillet” (July 14th).

Bastille Day French Vocabulary

• Le quatorze juillet – katorze jwee yeah
• La Fête Nationale – National day – watch out! We don’t say Bastille Day at all.
• Joyeux 14 juillet – have a good national day
• Bonne fête nationale – have a good national day
• Une parade, un défilé – a parade
• Un feu d’artifice – firework (often used in the plural)
• Un drapeau – a flag
• La Marseillaise – French national anthem
• Vive la France – Hurray for France
• Un bal populaire – a danse
• Un concert – a concert

French Fireworks Vocabulary

• Un feu d’artifice – firework (often used in the plural)
• Une fusée – bottle rocket
• Une fontaine – a fountain
• Une chandelle romaine – Roman candle
• Un volcan – volcano
• Un mortier – mortar
• Une comète – a comet
• Un pétard – firecracker
• La poudre – powder
• La mèche – the wick
• Oh la belle rouge / bleue – what people shout during fireworks “oh the pretty red / blue…”
• Le bouquet final – the grand finale

How do you say: “What do you do on Bastille Day?” in French?

To ask a French friend what his plan is for Bastille day, ask:
– “qu’est-ce que tu fais pour le 14 juillet ?” (le katorz jwee yeah).
– What do you do on July 14th ?

What Was La Bastille?

La Bastille was a medieval fort and the former main jail of Paris. During the French revolution, on July 14th 1789, it was taken by the revolutionary troops and became the symbol of the French revolution. It remains the day we celebrate as the symbol of the people’s revolution.

Bastille Day French Parades

Of course, there are many military parades on Bastille Day all over France.

When I was little, we lived in Paris. One day, I saw many huge military planes fly over our apartment building. I was so scared! I had totally forgotten it was Bastille Day!

Bastille Day Military Parade French Practice

And now, let’s practice our French a little :-)

Un grand défilé militaire est organisé à Paris sur les Champs Elysées. Le défilé militaire à Paris a eu lieu chaque année depuis 1880, sauf pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. C’est un grand spectacle auquel assistent des milliers de gens.

A huge military parade is organised in Paris on les Champs Elysées. The Paris military parade has been taking place since 1880, except during WW2. It’s a huge show which thousands of people attend.

Des hommes et des femmes de différentes unités, y compris les cadets des écoles militaires, la marine française et la Légion étrangère française, participent à la parade. Le défilé se termine par la brigade de pompiers de Paris.

Men and women from different units, including military school cadets, the French sea force, the foreign legion take part in the parade. The parade finishes with the Paris fire brigade.

Des avions militaires survolent le parcours du défilé lors de la parade. Le président français ouvre le défilé et passe en revue les troupes.

Military planes fly over the parade course. The French president opens the parade and inspects the troops. 

Bastille Day French Fireworks

At night fall, all the major cities of France, and even the smaller villages, send out fireworks. French people love it and shout out : “oh la belle rouge !” “oh, la belle verte” (oh the pretty blue one, oh the pretty green one) !

There is of course an amazing firework in Paris, around 10h30, by the Eiffel Tower. Should you decide to attend, you won’t be the only one… About a million Parisians show up – follow Olivier’s tips to the secret spot to watch the Paris fireworks.

What do French People do on Bastille Day?

Let’s practice our French a bit more here:

Le 14 juillet, les Français regardent souvent la parade à la télévision le matin, et puis après se retrouvent pour un déjeuner entre amis ou en famille, peut être un barbecue ou un pique-nique au bord de l’eau ou dans un parc de la ville. Si vous allez au restaurant, il vaut mieux réserver ce jour-là ! Certaines villes organisent des repas communautaires.

On Bastille day, the French often watch the parade on TV in the morning, and then they meet up for a dinner among friends or family, maybe even a barbecue or a picnic by the water or in a city parc. If you go to a restaurant, you better book on that day! Some cities organize city meals.

Le soir, les Français vont voir un feu d’artifice et vont après danser au “bal populaire” qui est très souvent organisé par les villages. Les Français aiment bien danser ! Les villages organisent aussi quelquefois des compétitions de boules, des jeux pour les enfants, quand il n’y a pas de fête foraine dans les environ !

In the evening, the French watch fireworks and then go dancing in a “popular ball” which is often organized by villages. French people love to dance! Villages also sometimes organize French bowling competitions, games for children, when there are no fun fairs around!

À Paris, il y a un grand concert sur le Champs-de-Mars : Bob Sinclar, l’orchestre national de France, Johnny Holiday… Les Parisiens y vont très nombreux…

In Paris, there is a huge concert on the Champs-de-Mars (under the Eiffel Tower): Bob Sinclar, The French national orchestra, Johnny Holiday… French people attend in mass.

Everything is Closed in France on Bastille Day

Bastille day is a national holiday in France so of course postal offices, museums, banks and most shops are closed.
Restaurants and coffees outside of the most touristic areas may be closed as well. However bakeries and some Parisian shops, as well as shops in airports and train stations or alongside the major roads may be open.

Schedules of public transportation may also vary.

In major cities (Paris in particular), major roads will be closed for parades and other events. Depending on the size of the city, this can be a major inconvenience during several days: I invite you to read Olivier’s article “think twice about visiting Paris around Bastille Day“!

Look for Special Bastille Day Celebrations in Your Local Newspapers or Your Town’s Website

Even if you don’t live in France, there is probably something organized for Bastille day not too far from you: it may be something official that you’ll find in your town’s newspaper or website, or something done privately by a French school, restaurant or shop… So open your eyes and ask around.

Joyeux 14 juillet à tous!

Main picture copyright Yann Caradec

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Google is celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a local Roxbury artist’s illustration | The Boston Globe

Roxbury artist creates Google Doodle for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
By Linda Matchan - Globe Staff January 19, 2015

One morning last month, Roxbury artist Ekua Holmes got an unexpected e-mail. The subject line: “Hello from the Google Doodle team!”


She didn’t know what a Google Doodle was, let alone that it had a whole team behind it. “I’m sure I’d seen them, but I didn’t know it was a whole thing,” she said.


She does now. On Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Holmes’s Google Doodle illustration honoring the civil rights leader is the featured image on Google’s US homepage. The collage depicts King walking arm in arm with fellow activists in Selma, Ala.


Most artists could only dream of such exposure. Traffic to the page is typically in the many millions. “It’s pretty astronomical [and] jaw-dropping,” said Ryan Germick, who leads Google’s Doodle-making team.


Holmes, a painter and collage artist who is not represented by a gallery, was shocked to be tapped for the project. “He said he found me somewhere on the Internet. Somewhere on the Internet? That’s like somewhere in the Himalayas,” said Holmes, 59, whose Roxbury home is about five blocks from where she grew up.


Holmes works out of a South End studio, a jumble of art materials, found objects, and assorted items from the past — a VHS player (which she still uses), an old record player, her childhood tambourine, and her atlas dating to 1954. “Lots of things that inspire me have age on it,” she said during a recent studio visit.


The artist layers newspaper, photos, fabric, and other materials to create luminous compositions. Many of them evoke her own happy childhood in Roxbury’s close-knit Washington Park neighborhood, where, she said proudly, King had visited. King studied at Boston University in the early 1950s — living just a few blocks from where Holmes’s studio is now — and he preached at Roxbury’s Twelfth Baptist Church, which Holmes visits occasionally.


“You hear about families breaking down in [Roxbury] neighborhoods, and you can focus your attention there, but I prefer to focus my attention on families that take care of each other and spend time together,” she said.

When Holmes grew up, her neighborhood felt to her like an extended family. Her father, who died when she was 8, was a waiter on Beacon Hill; her mother was a bookkeeper and accountant. “Those were the days when you knew everyone on your street,” said Holmes, a 1977 graduate of Massachusetts College of Art.


“When I think of Roxbury, I think of richness, comfort, opportunity,” said Holmes, who even as a child loved playing with paper and other materials to create designs.


Her role models in the neighborhood included arts leader Elma Lewis — “she lived five streets down” — and mural artist Gary Rickson. (“My cousin took me to visit him. I smelled his paint.”)


“Everybody was encouraging you. You knew people expected great things from you,” she said.


Holmes earned a scholarship to Shady Hill School, the prestigious private school in Cambridge. She took ballet classes at the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts and elocution lessons in the South End. “My mother was determined to make life better for me, and education was the way.”


Holmes was determined to be an artist, though it wasn’t until her mother’s death some 25 years ago that she threw herself fully into it — “the event that really triggered me thinking deeply about what life is, that we don’t live forever.”


In the last couple of years, Candlewick Press, the acclaimed children’s book publisher based in Somerville, has commissioned Holmes to illustrate a picture-book biography of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, which comes out in September, as well as a book of poetry.


In 2013, Holmes was named to the Boston Art Commission, which oversees public art projects on city property. And she’s creating a community installation that opens at the Institute of Contemporary Art on Feb. 7: a gigantic interactive collage with scenes of Boston in transition, designed to complement the new ICA group exhibition, “When the Stars Begin to Fall.”


Holmes, who is passionate about grass-roots community arts outreach, also works part time for MassArt, where she is director of sparc!, the ArtMobile, an initiative that brings art and design workshops and programs to people in Boston.


For countless Web users, Google Doodles are one highly accessible form of art — little surprise goodies that break up the monotony of an everyday Internet search. They surface randomly — “probably 40 times a year,” Germick said — and can be animated, interactive, video, or static, like Holmes’s collage.


The Doodles, which incorporate the Google logo, celebrate events, achievements, or holidays, ranging from Christmas to the 50th anniversary of “Doctor Who.”


Google has a core team of about 10 artists and engineers who work on the Doodles, “but we look to mix it up and we are always on the lookout [for artists],” said Germick, himself an illustrator who has personally worked on hundreds of Doodles.


He found Holmes by chance, he said, and put her on his “running list of dream collaborators.” As Martin Luther King Jr. Day approached, he reached out to her.


“We thought she would be wonderful,” he said. “Her work has a universal quality and is really colorful and vibrant.”


Holmes treasures this opportunity. “It’s very cool to think of representing him on his special day,” she said of King. “It will be a different thing to get up on the 19th and type in Google.com.”

A detail of Holmes’ work, “Busstop.”

Joanne Rathe/Globe Staff


Linda Matchan can be reached at linda.matchan@globe.com.

Welcome to The Future! (Please enjoy responsibly.)

 

 

Welcome to The Future! (Please enjoy responsibly.)
Posted on: 2014-08-10 23:23:17-04

Congratulations on winning our sweepstakes!

We’re pleased to welcome you on a most-expenses-paid, open-ended trip to The Future, where you will enjoy fantastic technologies, abundant luxuries, exhilarating freedoms and opportunities, an inexhaustible supply of entertainment, and other truly ludicrous privileges.

You’ll be so awash with options, you won’t know what to do with yourself! Take a stroll through our modern cities and towns, free of threat from animal attacks and most infectious diseases. Wrap your body in a variety of warm, protective garments, available for next to nothing at garage sales and thrift stores or — if you’re feeling extra-luxurious — at one of thousands of retail shops.

Or perhaps you feel like eating something. That will almost certainly not be a problem! Beans, rice, legumes, flours, and — unbelievably — any amount of safe, fresh water you desire, are all widely available for little more than pocket change. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. For a little more you can get fresh fruits and vegetables, and even game, transported to you from exotic locations around the world. We even offer a “super-luxury” option, where you can pay a modest premium to have professionals find, prepare, and cook your meal, and even place it right in front of you, with additional doting provided by trained servants.

Here’s a partial list of other features you will enjoy here in The Future:

Protective walls, roofs and floors! We have these virtually everywhere, available on both a public and private basis. Weather will no longer run your life and make your decisions for you. Shield your possessions from thieves, as well as dampness and rot, with ease.

Answer virtually any question you have in seconds, with our Space-Age “Inter-Network.” Talk to friends, relatives and strangers anywhere, even across oceans, in real-time. Find the nearest coffee merchant or automobile-for-hire in seconds, or simply find something interesting to read or skim.

Many reasonably peaceful civilizations to choose from, with sophisticated and exclusive amenities such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from slavery, abundant parks and public spaces, growing respect for differences, non-despotic governments, police protection, relatively advanced labor standards, and a general “live and let live” ethos.

Endless art, music, literature and computer-simulated adventure! You could listen to a new musical performance, or read a new story, or gaze at new artwork, every hour of every day of your life and never run out of options. And we’re making more all the time! You can also watch fictional events unfold on an electronic “stage” in your own home, changing the actors and storylines with the push of a button. This is a very popular activity among our guests.

Truly incredible technologies, everywhere. Medical advancements that can double your life expectancy. Futuristic machines that can perform most of your cooking, cleaning, and thinking duties for you. You may be able to leave manual labor behind almost entirely! But don’t worry — with all your extra energy you can still keep your body in shape, by performing non-productive manual labor such as moving weighted steel rods up and down, or running circles around your neighborhood, even with nothing chasing you. Effective treatments are available for thousands of physical maladies, and a small but growing number of mental illnesses as well.
 

A wide variety of rights, privileges, work and educational opportunities. Learn to articulate your thoughts to others with beautiful languages, refined over millennia. Knowledge of basic math, geography, history, and science are all matters of course for nearly all of our winners, and much more advanced knowledge is always available for those who are interested. Using our revolutionary “Inter-Network,” you can even learn in the privacy of your own home. Seek mastery in one of hundreds of careers and thousands of hobbies. Shakespeare, French lessons, salsa dancing, meditation, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — you can have it all.

Absurd levels of luxury. Enjoy material comforts the kings and queens of old could never have imagined. Hot water on demand in virtually every home, no fire necessary. Heaters, fans and “air conditioning technology” allow you to even adjust the temperature of the air itself to match your preference, any time of year. Enjoy fine soaps, lotions, textiles and perfumes. Even spices and teas are readily available, in hundreds of exotic varieties. Be shuttled around the globe in automobiles and flying machines, even if you have no royal blood at all.

Nature! Listen to birds chirping, squirrels singing, and insects buzzing. Sit under a tree and enjoy its shade and muted rustling. These simple and beautiful pleasures are available in nearly every locale, for free. Coastal regions also come with sand or rocks, salty breeze, and 24-hour wave action. There is also a significant amount of nature remaining outside our lovely cities. Tours can be arranged easily.

Friendly and experienced support staff. While you’re off practicing ballroom dancing or sampling exotic fruits, teams of professionals are standing by, ready to assist you in a medical emergency, rescue you from fire, clean your streets, repair broken amenities, and even help you fend off wild animal attacks-in-progress.

Clearly we must be out of our minds for offering such a rich spread of prizes! This is certainly more than any human being could reasonably hope for — and it’s all yours.
So what’s the catch? How can you offer such an unbelievable deal?

There’s no catch! At least not for you! Most of the expense has been paid by generous benefactors, hailing from previous generations, as well as today’s. Sweepstakes entry is automatic and free, and if you’re reading this, you are one of our lucky winners!  All we ask is that you don’t forget to enjoy your wondrous prizes, and that you respect our other guests.

Welcome to the future. Enjoy responsibly.

—

Offer may expire without notice. Please take advantage while supplies last. Prizes may not be exactly as described; some may be replaced with others for logistical reasons, but the approximate value remains the same. For example, instead of squirrels, you may receive additional birds. Bartering of prizes is allowed and encouraged.

Certain jurisdictions do not qualify. Although there are more winners every day, we are not yet able to offer the ludicrous prizes described above to all states and territories. Please consider sharing unused prizes with others. For more information on the sources of our prizes, please consult the Space Age Inter-Network.

Space Age Inter-Network not yet available in subways.

***
Photos of skyline, bulk food, and library by Jamie McCaffrey, Six El Sid, and Ben Dalton. Squirrel photo and silly graphic by David Cain.

The Geometry of Peace

Galactic Synchronization added 5 new photos — with Laura Magdalene Eisenhower and 45 others.

Yesterday at 8:09pm · Edited ·

The Geometry of Peace

While our planet is still in turmoil, Higher Intelligence communications are showing that another story is unfolding beyond the veil of illusion... 2 weeks ago a crop circle formation appeared in Germany with striking resemblance to the geometry of the Banner of Peace. The Banner of Peace is a powerful universal symbol which was adapted by the visionary artist Nicholas Roerich to serve as an emblem for the desire of human culture to rise above war. This flag has been flown globally, as a sign of peace and culture, since the 1930's and its message is today more relevant than ever before. Peace is the Way!!!

"Where there is peace, there is culture
Where there is culture, there is peace."

[Nicholas Roerich, 1874-1947]

"This crop circle appeared in Raisting near the Ammersee, Bavarian, Germany, 50 kilometres away from Munich. Beside the earth station of the US-firm "Emerging Markets Communications Inc. (EMC)". On July, 24 many people arrived at the crop circle. They chanted and meditated together. There was a very peaceful atmosphere there."

http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2014/Ammersee/Ammersee2014a.html

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Please also join with our friends from UNIFY.ORG in the largest GLOBAL PEACE MEDITATION this coming August 8th. NS 1.27.1.14 KIN 22 White Solar Wind

Register here: http://globalmeditation.chopra.com/

‪#‎IAMPEACE‬