We present surface brightness fluctuations (SBFs) in the near--IR for 191 Magellanic star clusters available in the Second Incremental and All Sky Data releases of the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), and compare them with SBFs of Fornax Cluster galaxies and with predictions from stellar population models. Our goals are twofold. First, to provide an empirical calibration of near--IR SBFs, given that existing stellar population synthesis models are particularly discrepant in the near--IR. Second, whereas most previous SBF studies have focused on old, metal rich populations, this is the first application to a system with such a wide range of ages (~ 10^6 to more than 10^10 yr, i.e., 4 orders of magnitude), at the same time that the clusters have a very narrow range of metallicities (Z ~ 0.0006 -- 0.01, ie., 1 order of magnitude only). Since stellar population synthesis models predict a more complex sensitivity of SBFs to metallicity and age in the near--IR than in the optical, this analysis offers a unique way of disentangling the effects of age and metallicity. We find a satisfactory agreement between models and data. We also confirm that near--IR fluctuations and fluctuation colors are mostly driven by age in the Magellanic cluster populations, and that in this respect they constitute a sequence in which the Fornax Cluster galaxies fit adequately. Moreover, fluctuation colors display a tendency to redden with age that can be fit by a straight line. Finally, we use for the first time a Poissonian approach to establish the error bars of the fluctuation measurements, instead of the customary Monte Carlo simulations.

54 pages, 12 figures, accepted by ApJ