Scary Santa
Different cultures in the world have their own version of Santa Claus. There is Father Christmas in the UK. The French have Pere Noel. No matter which way you look at it, though, these Santas basically come from the same idea. In Japan, they have their own Santa too!
Apparently, this is not a well known thing – even to modern day Japanese. I came across this piece of information by chance at the Christmas Archives. This is what I found out:
Santa Claus turned up in Japan in 1875, and the first book of Christmas was published in 1898, was called, ‘SANTAKURO’ and was a book about Santa Claus and for children.
The following account is not directly related to Christmas, but has the similarity with such European Christmas characters as ‘Cramps’ and ‘Knecht Ruprecht’.
“NAMAHAGE” has appeared in the snowy villages every 15th (January?). Namahage visits the houses in the village wearing the mask of a demon and clothes made of straw. He has a box which he rattles and it makes a scary noise. When he visits the houses he says, “Where are your naughty children?”
The children are afraid of him. The people living in the houses have to give him food and drink and entertain him, and then say, “My children are nice” to make him go away.Also, “SHI-SHI-MAI” and “SHICHI FUKUGIN” come to the houses on New Years Day. This custom is like old Father Christmas in Britain when people believed that a holy traveller visited the villages on the day of the Winter Solstice.
So there you have it, the scary Santa of Japan. He could serve a good purpose these days, don’t you think?
Photo courtesy of shelleycurtis.blogspot.com/
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Posted December 10th, 2008 by Maki | Comments (3)3 Responses to “Scary Santa”
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus%C3%B3j%C3%A1r%C3%A1s
A similar custom from Mohacs, Hungary
[...] Source: Christmas Archives via Japan Blog [...]
We need a scary Santa over here at my house. This old guy who gives out presents just isn’t handing out the discipline the way he ought to!
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