The Poinsettia with its beautiful red flowers and shiny green leaves has become a symbol of Christmas to many people all over the world. Do you know where this flower comes from? Have you heard the touching legend about how it came to be a symbol of Christmas?
The Poinsettia is a flower native to Mexico where it is know as the Flor de la Nochebuena (or Flower of the Good Night - Christmas Eve). I was surprised to see the Poinsettia for the first time in Mexico. I was used to seeing the beautiful potted plants bursting with Christmas colors, red and green. However, in Mexico, the Poinsettia is more of a shrub that grows to an average of ten feet in height! The brown stems are more visible and the abundance of green leaves is more spread out over the tall plant.
The Flor de la Nochebuena was introduced to the United States by our ambassador to Mexico that served from 1825-1829 named Joel Roberts Poinsett. Poinsett loved plants and brought some of the flowers to grow at his plantation in South Carolina. Soon the flower became known after the man who introduced it to the US. Today, the Paul Eckes Ranch ("http://www.ecke.com") is one of the largest growers of Poinsettias in the world.
The legend of the Poinsettia is a beautiful Christmas story. There are several versions available on the internet that are good, but my favorite is a picture book from Tomie dePaola (available at "http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0..."). Here is my own, shortened version.
One Christmas Eve, a young Mexican girl was upset because she didn't have a gift to give baby Jesus. She watched outside the church as the other children of the town took their gifts to the Christ child. She cried becuase she truly wanted to give him a gift. As she cried, an old woman came to her and asked what was wrong. The little girl spilled out her story to the kind woman. The woman told her not to cry, that the importance of giving is not what you give, but that you give it from your heart. Then the lady disappeared. The little girl thought and thought about what she could give baby Jesus. Then she saw a bunch of pretty green plants. It was the best she could do. She took the plants into the church to baby Jesus. The townsfolk scoffed at her humble gift. As she place the plants on the alter, beautiful red flowers began to grown on the green plants. Everyone stared in amazement! As the little girl walked home, she noticed that all the green plants of that kind had grown beautiful red flowers and she remembered the kind words of the old lady.
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