The Oga Peninsula has a festival on New Year’s Eve it would like to share with you. As you drive into the peninsula area you will come across two giant demonic statues. These are giant ‘Namahage’ and are the Oga Pen’s very own ‘Hello Kitty’. So ubiquitous are these creatures, that even if you go into the post office to do a transaction, the postal workers will explain to you what the tradition entails.
For the uninitiated, the tradition involves all the children in the area. Every New Year’s Eve, village men dress up in demonic Namahage masks and costumes, and run around to the homes of their neighbours looking for children to steal.
“Where are the crying, the naughty, the unruly little children?” asks the village men, dressed up as scary Namahage.
The parents are required to point out the children of the house, and the Namahage pick up the children and head out the door, convincing the children that they are to be stolen, and perhaps eaten.
Only when the children really think their fate is sealed, do their parents intervene and say:
“Actually, the children are really good! They don’t cry and they are well behaved. They are good little children.”
Upon hearing this, the Namahage leave the children alone. The children realise that they are good children, and they also know that if they are bad, they will be stolen and perhaps eaten by the Namahage.
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