Los festivales de la Revolución Francesa: símbolos y sentimientos en las fiestas revolucionarias, 1789-1799

Abstract

The text offers an initial approach to the theme of festivals celebrated during the French Revolution during the revolutionary decade, between 1789 and 1799. It concentrates on some of the similarities and differences among the popular traditional festivals and feasts of the ancient regimen, and examines the use of revolutionary symbolic rhetoric in the celebrations of the Revolution. At the same time,  the  essay  argues  that  the  revolutionary  festivals,  defined  as  rituals,  were unable to fulfill their purpose, that of acting as an effective political pedagogic strategy.