The French celebrate their freedom day in style

Kgomotso Molelekeng
Correspondent | Thursday July 25, 2013 00:00

This event was made possible by the association of French people in Botswana called Gaborone ACCUEIL. The night started off with a reggae version of the France national anthem, to which many used as a cue to show off their dancing skills. Dancing was the order of the day for the many who gathered there as every individual took to the stage and displayed their dancing skills. 

One of the organisers of the event, Bernard Godeotent told Showbiz that Bastille Day is a day that the French value the most.  He said every year, thousands of people in France gather to celebrate and usually this celebration is in a form of dance.  He explained that this year's celebrations were not held on July 14th because it would have clashed with Botswana's President's Day holiday.

'It's a pity we did not celebrate on the actual day last week because we did not want to get in the way of the President's Day holidays, so we chose this day to allow anybody to celebrate with us even if they are non-French speaking people,' he said.

He further explained that the day marks the first revolution of the country when some French people stoned the Bastille prison, thus becoming the defining event of the revolution.  Godeotent said that this is the first time the French people celebrated this event in Botswana, even though the association has existed for more than three years.

'We decided to do it this year to start a tradition that we intend to keep because this day is very dear to us and has a huge influence throughout the world.  Even though we live here now, our culture is important to us and we cannot abandon it, in France there is a saying which says, 'everything has to end with a song and dance', so tonight it is all about music and dancing,' he said. 

The DJ also kept the attendees on their toes as he played famous French music that seemed to be loved by the crowd including, Jenache Seul by J.J Goldman, Simon Papatara sang by Yannick Noah, Christophe Mae's famous song On S'attache and Johnny Halliday's hit song Allumerle Le Feu.