Why celebrate? To
learn about the true St. Nicholas: the man of faith who lived his life in
devotion to Christ. Saint Nicholas loved children and cared for the needy. He
brings the love of Christ and the healing of Jesus. When we honor this saint,
following his example of selfless giving, we honor the Christ Child who
selflessly gave the greatest gift of all—himself.
Studies* with young children (ages 4-7) in the
Netherlands show that St. Nicholas encourages positive, sharing behavior:
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.
* "Staff, miter, book, share:
How attributes of Saint Nicholas induce normative behavior" by Janneke F. Joly
and Diederik A. Stapel, European Journal of Social Psychology, volume 39,
pp. 145-153 (2009). Published online 14 January 2008 in Wiley InterScience.
Studies
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