What was the name of the first Bastille Day celebration in 1790?

The first Bastille Day celebration in 1790 was called the Fête de la Fédération.

Held on 14 July 1790, exactly one year after the Bastille fell, the festival was designed to celebrate national unity rather than repeat the violence of the 1789 uprising. Delegations of National Guards and representatives from France’s departments gathered in Paris for a huge ceremony at the Champ de Mars.

The Marquis de Lafayette, commander of the Paris National Guard, led the oath to the nation and the law. King Louis XVI then swore loyalty to the new constitutional order, while Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, bishop of Autun, celebrated Mass. The ceremony attempted to present revolutionary France as united around a constitutional monarchy.

The event is often confused with later names such as Fête Nationale, which describes France’s national holiday generally, not the specific 1790 festival. “Fête de la Révolution” and “Fête de la République” are descriptive-sounding alternatives, but they were not the official name of this inaugural celebration. When France established 14 July as its national holiday in 1880, lawmakers connected the date with both the 1789 uprising and the 1790 federation festival.