Municipal Homage

The French president has declared a three day period of mourning for the country in light of the terrorist attacks in Paris.  Many cultural events have been canceled, including our first chorale concert of the year.  (We had to replace our canceled country dance with something new.)

Officially, large groups are not supposed to gather for a week, but that hasn't stopped a number of spontaneous vigils all over.

There was a countrywide call for a minute of silence at noon today.  Our village took that opportunity to lay floral arrangements at the local war monument, which are found all over France after the massive losses of World War I.

Our town hall

Our local war memorial

Our local town hall has tied up the national flag (on the building, not a pole), and the mayor gave a small speech at the war monument.

Both are in walking distance from our house.

Our mayor and other officials

Contribution by the mayor's office

Then the vice mayor, who happens to be our neighbor, laid a bouquet of flowers at the base of the monument, along with some bouquets already there from various other groups.

Singing the national anthem . . .

. . . after a moment of silence

After the nationwide moment of silence, the small group who were available to join together sang the national anthem.

Lighting a candle

Names and faces of the fallen

Afterwards, a member of the municipal council lighted a candle to add to the others already there.

Somebody else added the front page of the local newspaper with many photos of those who perished, with their names as they've been identified. 

It's amazing how personal a tragedy becomes when you see the actual faces of the victims.

A collection of memorial bouquets

Security in action

While these flower bouquets represent a period of sadness, the country colors do make a very pretty grouping. 

I was a bit surprised to see members of the area Gendarmerie, the police force, for such a small gathering.  I guess nobody is wanting to take any chances.

Latest commemoration of national sorrow

Overall, this was a very simple commemoration.  But for these people, this is their 9-11, and they are all feeling very helpless against the world events that have now touched very close to home. 

I thought you might like to see how local French people deal with their sorrow, probably quite similarly to anybody else anywhere else. 

Many of these people represented here are my personal friends and acquaintances, which makes it all a bit more personal.

They were all asking each other how to stop this madness, what can be done, how can anybody feel safe.  There were no answers.