Bastille Day
As early as 1789, the year of the storming of the Bastille, preliminary designs for a national festival were underway. These designs were intended to strengthen the country's national identity through the celebration of the events of 14 July 1789. One of the first designs was proposed by Clément Gonchon, a French textile worker, who presented his design for a festival celebrating the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille to the French city administration and the public on 9 December 1789. There were other proposals and unofficial celebrations of 14 July 1789, but the official festival sponsored by the National Assembly was called the Fête de la Fédération.
Paris under Napoleon
Besides the official holidays, Parisians again celebrated the full range of religious holidays, which had been abolished during the Revolution. The celebration of Carnival, and masked balls, which had been forbidden during the Revolution, resumed, though under careful police supervision. On Mardi Gras thousands of Parisians in masks and costumes filled the streets, on foot, horseback and in carriages. The 15th of August became a new holiday, the Festival of Saint-Napoleon. It marked the birthday of the Emperor, the Catholic festival of the Assumption, and the anniversary of the Concordat, signed by Napoleon and the Pope on that day in 1801, which allowed the churches of France to reopen. In 1806 the Pope was persuaded to make it an official religious holiday, but its celebration ended with the downfall of the Emperor.