Thank you for the post David. Yes it would be good if people were "trying to reclaim the altruistic spirit of the original Santa Claus" (Saint Nicholas).
I will be sure to visit her site. :-) --Mike On Sun, Dec 5, 2010 at 10:39 PM, David Myers <[email protected]> wrote: > > > What fun to return from delivering St. Nicholas Eve gifts to a few family > and friends and to find Mike, Carol, and John's postings about St. Nicholas > Feast Day. I live in Holland, Michigan--a Dutch heritage (though now > diverse) community that many years ago introduced my wife and I to St. > Nicholas, who is celebrated in the Netherlands as Sinterklaas. This > weekend, several hundred children here in Holland, MI, greeted the arrival > of St. Nicholas in a main street parade. Our living here also led my wife, > Carol, to create a website devoted to St. Nicholas (which, if history > repeats itself, will have more than 100,000 visitors today and tomorrow). > > To make this entry pertinent to psychology, the spirit of St. Nicholas (and > of those trying to reclaim the altruistic spirit of the original Santa > Claus) was nicely captured in a 2009 European Journal of Social Psychology > study of the priming of altruism among Dutch children. Tilburg University > social psychologist Diederik Stapel and his colleagues offer this synopsis, > from their discussion section: > > One may think that traditions like the Dutch Saint Nicholas tradition makes > children materialistic, greedy, and less likely to share with others as they > are spoiled with gifts and candy. However, our results clearly show that > children in The Netherlands still associate Saint Nicholas with "sharing > with others" . . . . > > > > Significant others, such as family members, friends, and Saint Nicholas, are > pre-eminently the people that influence us and that teach us what is good, > and what is bad, and what the social norms are in our society. . . . Give > Dutch children a coloring picture depicting the attributes of Saint Nicholas > (a book, miter, and a staff) and they will give away more of their candy. > > J > Dave Myers > www.davidmyers.org > > > On Sun, Dec 5, 2010 at 5:30 PM, Mike Palij <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> December 6 is celebrated among certain groups as St. Nicholas' Feast Day. >> St. Nicholas lived from 270-347 A.D. and is considered as the basis or >> precursor to Santa Claus. For more info about old St. Nick, there is a >> Wikipedia entry (yadda-yadda); see: >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas >> >> Quoting from the entry: >> |He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the >> |shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model >> |for Santa Claus, whose English name comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas. >> >> Make sure you check your shoes before you put them on tomorrow. >> >> Also, December 19 is observed by some who follow the old (Julian) >> calendar. >> Check your shoes then, too. >> >> -Mike Palij >> New York University >> [email protected] >> >> >> >> --- >> You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe click here: >> http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13427.360bfbe9fb2fe3f305db7b6fe1f8a4ad&n=T&l=tips&o=6996 >> or send a blank email to >> leave-6996-13427.360bfbe9fb2fe3f305db7b6fe1f8a...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13541.42a7e8017ab9578358f118300f4720fb&n=T&l=tips&o=7004 > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-7004-13541.42a7e8017ab9578358f118300f472...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=7011 or send a blank email to leave-7011-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
