French

The French language is a member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. It is known as the language of lovers. French is spoken as a first language by more than 70,000,000 people, mainly in France, then Belgium, Switzerland, in former French and Belgium colonies in Africa and Canada. It is now spoken by 265 million people. The French language is descended from Latin and first appeared in writing in 842 AD when it was used in the Strasbourg Oaths. Before then Latin was the language used for literature throughout Europe. During the 10th and 11th centuries, French appeared in a number of documents and religious writings, but French literature didn't start to take off until the late 12th / early 13th century. There is also Canadian French. Most of them wear head scarfs. French is famous for its wine. Bastille Day, the French national holiday, commemorates the storming of the Bastille, which took place on 14 July 1789 and marked the beginning of the French Revolution. The Bastille was a prison and a symbol of the absolute and arbitrary power of Louis the 16th's Ancient Regime. The Catholic holiday of Candlemas, on Febuary 2nd, is a feast to commemorate the purification of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of baby Jesus. In France, this holiday is called la Chandeleur, Fête de la Lumière,* or jour des crêpes. Not only do the French eat a lot of crêpes on Chandeleur, but they also do a bit of fortune telling while making them. It is traditional to hold a coin in your writing hand and a crêpe pan in the other, and flip the crêpe into the air. If you manage to catch the crêpe in the pan, your family will be prosperous for the rest of the year. There is much architecture in France. One is the Statue of Liberty and it was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States and is a universal symbol of freedom and democracy. Another