14 juillet Fête nationale à La Châtre

The 14th of July is of course celebrated all over France and therefore also in La Châtre.
As a Swede I can see the difference between the celebration of the National Day in France and many other countries all over the world compared to the Swedish celebration.

For a long time the Swedish National Day was celebrated as the Day of the Swedish Flag and it wasn't until 1983 that it became a National Day and from 2005 it's also a Holiday.
In France and in other countries all over the world - with some exceptions perhaps - the celebration of the National Day is important as it commemorates a specific and important event in the history of the country.
As Sweden has enjoyed peace since 1809 and haven't had any civil wars or any other major or critical events to commemorate, the National Day (in commemoration of the day king Gustav Vasa or Gustav 1 became king in Sweden, the adaptation of the Instrument of Government in 1809 - one of the fundamental laws making up the constitution - among other events) has in the minds of the Swedes been fairly unimportant.

In France the historical development has been totally different and this is why it's more important in this country than in Sweden.

Parenthetical, the celebration of the National Day in Norway (May 17 'Syttende Mai') and the other Nordic countries is almost equally important as in France and many other countries but on the other hand these countries has experienced war and occupation.

In La Châtre and many other smaller towns in France it' s a custom that the inhabitants march through the streets the night before 14th of July, wearing candles and different kinds of lamps, traditions that obviously goes back to the time when one thought that one could chase evil spiritis away.
Perhaps also reminding of the uprisal of the citizens during the French Revolution.

Be as it is but below you can see some of the citizens marching wearing the lamps and candles and there were both children, youngsters and elderly people in the parade.

The quality of the pictures are not to good but we blame it on the iPhone!

Ending with fireworks of course.

It's interesting to see that small towns like La Châtre and Montgivray
(a town we also visited for the celebration as I wrote yesterday)
can afford these rather impressing fire works: