The Many Faces of Le Nain Rouge

[Lowell]

Detroit Love is loud and clear when Detroit throws a party for their favorite scapegoat, Le Nain Rouge.


There is a legend in Detroit, from the days of Cadillac on down, of an enigmatic character the French called Le Nain Rouge -- the Red Dwarf. He appearances are alleged to have preceded evil events and he is said to still be is out there, lurking waiting for his next moment to appear. But where is he? Who is he?


To avert these bad fortunes, contemporary Detroiters are on the march on a mild afternoon in March, La Marche du Nain Rouge, to discourage his return, allay his wrath and lift their troubled city from ashes to greatness. Seen here they his effigy struts before them as they march him down Cass Avenue toward Cass Park.



Yet in their innocent revelry they are, in fact, only serving to mask the real Le Nain Rouge. For amid their gaiety they never realize that he is there, among them, infiltrating the very parade meant to shun and humiliate him!


Only the trained eye can spot him in his many disguises and it is my duty, as your intrepid guide on this Marche du Nain Rouge, to reveal to you what distracted eyes cannot see, indeed may not want to see -- the many faces of Le Nain Rouge.

First, let's dispense with obvious and common misconceptions. Le Nain would never appear with such lack of subtlety but he may "accidentally" stroke his hair to cover his face if a camera gets too close.


His can infuse the inanimate and the animate. So if you can connect his presence in this stone carving...


...with this parader, you will have passed your first test in understanding Le Nain Rouge.


He is said to be a dwarf. But is he? Are you sure he wasn't a child mistaken for a dwarf??


.. who can trick you into fixating on the stereotypical figureheads on the right and totally overlook the real Le Nain on the left?


He lures us into focusing on foreground attractions while ignoring his unremarkable presence lurking in the background...


.. .or seducing us into focusing on the color and pomp of a parade while completely ignoring him, plainly dressed and smiling at you in a fedora hat...


...or whispering into the Holy Father's ear.


How can we be so blind Detroit? We nervously cast our eyes about for him without seeing, even without feeling or realizing we that we are holding the very thing we are looking for!


We never see him yet when we pore through our pictures the next day, there he is in the background -- like a warm breath on our necks or a soft brush against our wigs.


...or sometimes riding right on top of our heads!


His mop of red hair invades the center of our pictures...


...yet we do not recognize him, even if he stands on our foreheads because our eyes are so closed and our beliefs so frozen.


We search, we analyze, we theorize and contemplate about what might be and all the while he is there, not once twice! in plain sight! Yet even this trained video crew overlooks him.


Sisters and Brothers of Detroit, arise, lift your heads and raise your eyes!


Stop looking for what you think should be and start seeing things as they are.


Only then will you find him, watching over you in Cass Park from a tiny outpost on the Masonic Temple...


or floating in a bubble...


possessing a priest...


...and twirling the dancer.


Look beyond the Spirits of Detroit chugging their PBR's...


...and the drunken Cadillac bemoaning his lost fortune. To see him you must...


look up...


look behind...


...and beyond the theater of the obvious.


Look within...


and behind the veils....

to discover the beauty...


and the majesty...


...and the joy that is our beloved Detroit.


Then and only then will you expose and drive away the darkness that is Le Nain Rouge.


So, until next year, my daah-lings...


I bid you au revoir...


and peace out...


until we march again...


and once more raise our fist...


to our little friend -- Le Nain Rouge.

FIN
La Marche du Nain Rouge - March 20, 2011

Le Nain Rouge Wiki

[Kathleen]

WOW!! Thanks, Lowell, for the narrative and the visual of this year's Marche du Nain Rouge.

[Pam]

and the drunken Cadillac bemoaning his lost fortune

Detroitnerd is that you?

[gnome]

Good work Lowell, sorry You missed me at Cass Park, or maybe you didn't .

[gazhekwe]

Excellent photo essay on a complex figure. It puts us right in the picture, even if we couldn't be there. The priest figure, apparently with a big rock, intrigues me. Is someone recognizing the true spirit of le Nain Rouge?

Legend has it that le Nain Rouge was an Indian child, and not a dwarf. The French called the Indians Peaux Rouges, so the term Rouge would in this case refer to that terminology. The skin would not be bright lipstick red, but the color of mahogany, maybe. The child is the son of Miche Piishoo, the Great Lynx, the water spirit who controls the lakes, and whose good will can make for safe travels and good fishing. After some benighted Catholic priests destroyed a stone that had been chosen as a place to honor Miche Piishoo, the son was determined on vengeance. That is what his appearances indicate, not so much an evil created but a vengeful, 'Take that, Detroit!'

In some sense, his appearances could be regarded as warnings, in the same way that his father sends warning of unsafe travel in most cases. The bad things happen, but if we heed the warning, we can protect ourselves. We might be able to appease the little red one by again creating a place for those who wish to honor his father. Respect is all anyone wants, including a powerful water spirit and his son.

[xD_Brklyn]

Best summary of the La Nain Rouge I've heard, but it looks like the object next to the Jesuit priest is the Joe Louis Fist.

Thanks Lowell for the photo essay, curious to know where the relief sculpture in the first photo was located.

[Detroitnerd]

Detroitnerd is that you?

Haha. Oh, I'm in there, Pam, somewhere. Just like our red friend!

Great photo-essay, Lowell! What a wonderful surprise this Tuesday morning!

[Motor City Sam]

Very cool, Lowell. I was sorry I missed the parade and now I feel like I didn't.

[canuck]

Merveilleux! Peut-être y serai-je l'an prochain les amis! Bravo à Lowell!

[Django]

Heres some video my friend did, Aaron Timlin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsF1lKl-JlM

Great pics Lowell.

Cant wait for next year, Ive always missed it so far, but next year most def.

[sumas]

Great pics. Thanks

[Jimaz]

I was hoping to see Lister in the crowd.

[JStone]

Nice pic of Joel Loving. Perhaps he is Le Nain?

[Jimaz]

There is a resemblance but the photo is of Craig Charles, star of Red Dwarf.

[Pam]

Haha. Oh, I'm in there, Pam, somewhere. Just like our red friend!

Ok, my other guesses were dude in the pope hat or dude chugging the PBR.

[Pam]

There is a resemblance but the photo is of Craig Charles, star of Red Dwarf.

I think he meant this guy:

[Jimaz]

I think he meant this guy:

Ah! Thanks. No doubt.

[JohnnyFreddy]

Great pictures Lowell.
Everyone had a GREAT TIME!!!!
This year's event was so much larger than last years.
Nice to see so many cameras and film crews.
We video taped it last year, for a show my partner and I produced for Public T.V.
....but this years crop of videographers/photographers did a very good job of capturing the true essence of the event.
Your commentary was spot on friend, spot on.
So sad to gaze upon the grandeur of the Masonic Temple, knowing there's
a good chance it may befall the same fate of so many other gems Detroit has
squandered, with it's infamous 'Destroy By Neglect' reasoning.
"Oh it's too big to utilize for anything nowadays."
"It'll be fine...the people in charge will be fine stewards."
Let us hope we can save this beautiful, hulking monolith of art,
seemingly unwanted by the Masons and the Iilitches.
What a potentially beautiful area this Park and surrounding neighborhood
could be once again. What better place in our recovering city could there be,
a revitalizing effort, to preserve our glorious past, and meld this icon of philosophy
with a modern sensibility, aimed towards preservation, as well as future usability.
What a wonderful thing it would be, if, rather than a straight, boring route down
Woodward Avenue, the 'Light Rail' took, we could manage a little imagination,
by traveling throughout different notable areas and neighborhoods of interest
in Detroit. How about, for instance, a reroute turning onto Temple and then onto
second, down through Wayne State Campus, all the way through Mid town,
[[raised rail, of course) and then turning right, back onto Grand Blvd., and on to
Woodward going left and on to the Northern suburbs from there.
...Boy...talk about going off-topic. I think this may take the cake.
Anyway, Lowell....Great Post sir.

[Lowell]

Best summary of the La Nain Rouge I've heard, but it looks like the object next to the Jesuit priest is the Joe Louis Fist.

Thanks Lowell for the photo essay, curious to know where the relief sculpture in the first photo was located.

The image is from one of the panels on the dais for the Robert Burns statue.
The inscription reads, "Nae Man Can Tether Time Nor Tide"

[Lowell]

Addendum: Thanks to all for the kind remarks.

This was an amazingly good-spirited and uplifting event. I foresee it growing immensely in coming years as it hits all the right notes -- love for Detroit, color and whackiness, self-effacing humor, the ending of winter and youthful energy.

I'm glad they didn't burn an effigy.

I think the emphasis should be win Le Nain over to our view with love and appreciation and get him to give us another reprieve to last until the next parade.

In fact that should be the message to all in our great international metropolis.

After all, isn't here a little bit of Le Nain Rouge in all of us. or ?

[gazhekwe]

I really like those ideas, Lowell. There is more than one way of looking at things, that's for sure.

[sjmes]

Is there any mention of this event in Detroit's past or is this just a fun, tounge-in-cheek thing? I know someone wrote a book about Michigan Legends and mentioned it there as well as their website, but that was the only time I heard of it.

[Kathleen]

Legends of Le Detroit by Marie Caroline Watson Hamlin [[Detroit: Thorndike Nourse, 1884; reprinted Detroit: Gale Research, 1977) devotes a chapter to "Le Nain Rouge" and dates the legend back to 1701.

[Guideboat]

Great thread! Sorry I missed the event. I like the whole concept.

[Magnatomicflux]

Great thread Lowell, I enjoyed the narration!


Here's a link that was just posted today in the Detroit Myths thread for "Legends of le Detroit" that Kathleen mentioned.

http://books.google.com/books?id=eFw...etroit&f=false