2026 Armistice Day

Armistice Day on November 11 marks the end of fighting in the First World War in 1918, when the armistice signed at dawn in a railway carriage near Compiègne took effect at 11 a.m.; it has been a public holiday in France since 1922. The President lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and rekindles its flame, while every town holds a ceremony at its war memorial with veterans, schoolchildren and a reading of the names of the fallen. At 11 a.m. the nation observes a minute of silence. Many people wear a bleuet de France, the blue cornflower that is the French equivalent of the poppy, and since 2012 the day has honoured all those who died for France in every conflict. As a public holiday, shops and offices close, and when it falls next to a weekend the long break sees heavy travel. This countdown ticks to midnight Central European Time in Paris on November 11.