Namahage: the New Year's Ogre

Note: The following blog entry does not really concern syncretism (or at least as far as I know), but it is an exquisite example of folk religion. 

In the North of Japan’s main island, ogres visit the households where children reside on New Year’s Eve (Ōmisoka 大晦日).  These mysterious ogres called Namahage ナマハゲ  supposedly leave their residence in the mountains once a year to come down and make sure the children are being good.

Two men, traditionally bachelors,  dress up as namahage wearing horrifying masks, a raincoat made of straw and an imitation knife. In this guise they enter the houses by surprise, growling and moving about wildly. They ask whether the children have been good or bad, if they have not been too lazy, if they cry too much etc.  and then encourage them to behave during the coming year. While the parents are generally amused by the conduct of these visiting gods, some children appear to be genuinely frightened.

The resemblance with a folkloric character from the Low countries is striking. At least since the 19^th century the benevolent Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) is said to be accompanied by a black servant on his mission to deliver presents and candy to all the good children on the 6^th of December.  Zwarte Piet (Black Pete), as he is called, has in recent times acquired jester-like  features, but originally he played the severe, punishing counterpart of the forgiving Sinterklaas. While the namahage would punish lazy children by dragging them into the mountains, Zwarte Piet would put the bad children in his bag and take them away to his home in Spain. In the Alpine regions the somewhat dangerous aspect of Saint Nicholas’ servant survived in the devil-like Krampus.

Is it a universal tendency of mankind to scare the youngsters in order to make them behave or is there a link, perhaps through the unique relationship of the Japanese and the Dutch throughout the Edo period?

Sources
Ekubota, Hiromichi (久保田裕道). 『日本の神さま』(Nihon no kami-sama). Tokyo: PHP Kenkyūsho (PHP研究所), 2008.

Faber, Paul. Sinterklaas overzee: avonturen van een reislustige heilige. Amsterdam: KIT Publishers, 2006.

Greene, Meg. Japan: A Primary Source Cultural Guide. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2005.