A colourful torchlight procession marks the eve of Bastille Day

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A colourful torchlight procession, headed by a music band, and featuring lanterns wrapped in colours of the national flags of France and India, marched down the Promenade Beach on Sunday on the eve of Bastille Day in connection with the celebration of French National Day on July 14 (Monday).

The symbolic night march, that began in front of the Dupleix Statue and ended near the building of the French Consulate on Goubert Avenue, was to signify the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789, a defining point in the French Revolution.

The procession was launched in the presence of Etienne Rolland-Piègue, Consul General of France in Pondicherry and Chennai, who will also lead the Bastille Day ceremonies on Monday.

Members of the French expat community in the city, representatives of war veterans associations, youth and tourists joined the procession.

The event was organised under the auspices of “Le Souvenir Francaise” (The Souvenir Français), an association founded in 1887 with a mission to honour the memory of all those who died for France, whether French or foreign, and to help maintain tombs and monuments.

The French Consulate is celebrating the occasion both as a symbol of unity of the French people in forming a republic and its enshrined principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity, as well as a reaffirmation of a strengthening friendship based on shared values between France and India.

On July 14, wreaths will be placed at the War Memorials of Puducherry at 8.30 a.m. and Karaikal at 9.30 a.m. The War Memorials will remain open to families for one hour after the official ceremonies for private wreath-laying, the French Consulate said.

The celebrations will conclude with traditional fireworks display will take place on the seafront in front of the Consulate General of France.