Where did the word picnic come from?
After the French Revolution in 1789, royal parks became open to the public for the first time. Picnicking in the parks became a popular activity amongst the newly enfranchised citizens. Early in the 19th century, a fashionable group of Londoners formed the ‘Picnic Society’. Members met in the Pantheon on Oxford Street. Each member was expected to provide a share of the entertainment and of the refreshments with no one particular host. Interest in the society waned in the 1850s as the founders died. The image of picnics as a peaceful social activity can be utilised for political protest too. In this context, a picnic functions as a temporary occupation of significant public territory. A famous example of this is the Paneuropean Picnic held on both sides of the Hungarian / Austrian border on the August 19, 1989 as part of the struggle towards German reunification. In the year 2000, a 600-mile-long picnic took place from coast to coast in France to celebrate the first Bastille Day of the
