July
14th (Bastille Day) is a national holiday here in France and
commemorates the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison, which is an event that holds a significant place
in the French Revolution. Each year, this day is filled with friends, family, food & fireworks. Most villages have their own fireworks
display to help celebrate the day and our tiny village is no exception.
Each
year, we have invited our church family to enjoy the evening with us, as we
serve a plethora of ice cream with every topping imaginable & then take the opportunity to sit and
watch the fireworks together. It's always a wonderful night enjoying the beautiful fireworks display and just
being together!
The
first year we began this church event tradition, I went out and bought a French flag banner
to help get everyone in the mood of the occasion. (Which I have begun to realize, is a thought that I have
taken from my own culture! As I
have looked around throughout the years, I have not seen many following suit
with this tradition. =) But be
that as it may, I was excited to help celebrate the day with my church
family. That evening as our guests
were beginning to enjoy the ice cream sundaes, a young French guy approached me
& very politely stated, “Mrs. Coules, did you realize that you have the
colors on the flag banner backwards?” What??? Oh, no!! I was horrified! Here I was so excited to put up this
banner to express national pride in France, that I totally forgot that I was
looking at the colors as an American!
I grew up reciting the colors of the flag in the following order: “red, white and
blue.” The French on the other
hand, grow up saying, “blue, white and red!” 
Needless
to say, you do not have to tell me twice!
The following year, you can bet that the banner was again hung in
celebration of the day, BUT it was hung with great thought, so as not to once
again commit another “faux pas!”
