Happy Bastille Day?

A while ago, I had a blog called Ask a Frenchman. The following post is from that blog, but since it's no longer online and it's July 14th today, I thought it would be a good idea to republish it here.Enjoy! Today is the perfect day to tell you a little bit about Bastille Day.After being surrounded by English speakers for many years (most of my adult life, really, even here in Japan) I've noticed that many of them have misconceptions about Bastille Day, especially concerning how it's celebrated in France.Let's debunk these misconceptions and explain things a bit.Is Bastille Day the French Independence Day?Well, yes and no.But really, no.While Bastille Day can be seen as an equivalent to an "Independence Day" for countries that have one, it's only because they are roughly equivalent in importance and symbolism. They can be seen as the "nation's holiday."But that's pretty much where the similarities end.First, it's not the French Independence Day because France was never a colony and…