11 Novembre at 11:00

The monument to the dead of WWI.

Yesterday's  rains and bluster scrubbed the air and the pavements.  It is a hard bright morning here.  The sun is brilliant, but there is a bit of a cold wind to go with it.  It made for a brisk walk up Rue Verdun to attend the Armistice Day ceremony.  And since I decided to wear a skirt to be a little more respectful with my clothing, it was all the more brisk, believe me.

Comparisons to the way the holiday is observed here and the way it is observed in the US are unavoidable for me.  I don't know that there was a huge turnout for the ceremony, maybe 200 people, but almost everything here is closed today.  Certainly the stores are closed, and so are most of the restaurants.  I saw only one boulangerie (bread bakery) open, and normally there are 4 or 5 open along this street.  Thank God for that, or what would we do for lunch?  

No doubt about who is in charge.

French paratroopers stationed here in Carcassonne

I just don't understand it--the stores in the US are open practically 24/7 and every day of the year.  God forbid someone should miss a sale. And yet, compared to the people I have met here, we are rapidly becoming very poor.  But more than that, it says volumes about what we value.  Things like time to remember, to think, to appreciate what we've lost and what we have, take a back seat to getting a good deal on a third television.  Really, I cry for my country.

Old veterans

 I had such mixed emotions watching this ceremony today.  In typical French fashion, nothing was rushed, and there was a period of about 15 minutes after the ceremony had begun that nothing happened. I was impressed by how quiet and respectful the crowd was.  I was standing with some young men who were probably 19-20 and nobody cracked wise, nobody huffed and puffed impatiently.  There were no whoops and hollering when the names of the participants, both individuals and groups were announced.  Call me old, call me hidebound, I don't care.  I liked the atmosphere. 

This is one of the top brass. 

I certainly didn't get the impression that war was being glorified in any way. What could be glorified about that awful war?  Yet the military presence was unavoidable.  Generations of soldiers were there.  Maybe the formality and the pomp associated with the military is needed to bring us the sense of gravitas, the sense of reverence that other forms of ceremony just don't carry.  It has caused me to think about what we remember, what we honor and why.

Flower arrangements for presenting

Freshly scrubbed faces

There was a band, and it would play a little fanfare before each segment of the ceremony.  The Marseillaise was played and sung.  Three young men received bronze stars and one young man received a silver star. The people who planned the ceremony involve the youth--there was a school whose students did a reading and then later sang the Marseillaise. 

Elementary school students to assist placing the flowers

They brought out elementary school students to help place the flowers at the tomb, and then these same young students came out and placed lit votive candles along the base of the monument.  These children were IMPECCABLY behaved.  The importance of remembering is being imprinted on them from a very young age.  

Presentation of the medals

I recognized several of the military and civic leaders from having seen them at the St. Michel cemetery on All Saints Day.  After the ceremony was completed, I was headed home and I ran into one of the young men who'd received a bronze star.  He was so very young and handsome in his uniform.

Pinning of the bronze star

I found it interesting that the band then played Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," which has always struck me as being particularly German.   All men shall be brothers. If only. I keep hearing the lyrics from "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"  when will we ever learn?

Notice the candles at the base of the monument.

.