Legend of the Poinsettia or Poinsettia

What is good and bad about oral traditions? Well, they are preserved as long as there are souls and hearts that listen to them, disseminate them and attend to them if it is the duty; the bad thing is that many times they are changed in some parts and they have to be rebuilt. That is why the history and legend of the Poinsettia Flower or Poinsettia deserves to touch true elements so that its history is truthful and know how to reinterpret it in the fervor of the peoples to maintain its legend.

Today we have to do that work that we gladly and respectfully fulfill for you and maintain a legacy of mysticism and reunion with the spiritual through the greatest gift from heaven: nature and its wonderful gifts.

The Poinsettia

Before telling your story, let's say it is this flower. That one that is called Poinsettia Flower, Christmas Flower or Easter Flower, whose Latin name is Euphoria pulcherrima which means “the most beautiful”; for the people of Mexico it has a great cultural value, so much so that in the Nahuatl indigenous dialect it was given the name of Cuitlaxótchil, which in its translation may have a hint of contrast with Christmas, but we will explain why it means “the flower that is withered ”or“ leather flower ”.

The American name of Poinsetia comes from its first breeder in the United States, a fundamental part in the weaving of the history and legend of the Poinsettia Flower or Poinsettia.

It is a flower both ornamental and medicinal, since its consumption can increase the amount of breast milk in women; for other cultures, its use is frequent for some skin diseases, including wound disinfection.

History

Indisputable, its origin is Mexican; More than 60 known types have been derived from it, widely distributed in the world, technically all with identical medicinal properties such as their ornamental value.

The Spanish mission friars at the time of the conquest gave it the name of Flor de Nochebuena because it reaches its maximum splendor in the winter season, which made it a new glow to Christmas.

In Europe it became part of its religious and home decoration since the nineteenth century, being its moment of consolidation as a real and mystical symbol that unleashed the interconnection between the history and legend of the Poinsettia Flower or Poinsettia, when on December 31, 1899 St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, was adorned with this imposing flower that, in addition to causing admiration, began a new era of symbiosis between people - nature and church, filling the festivities with splendor and that she carried away the regrets when she withered , a fact that soon achieves and in noble form.

Note then that what is seen by the Aztecs and what is understood by Christians in the face of a natural event, takes value in popular fervor, symbolizing "the beauty of the soul in the present, it will be the guardian against what affects it in the future."

The diplomat Joel Robert Poinsett was the United States ambassador to Mexico from 1825 to 1829, he met the Christmas Eve Flower when he traveled to Tasco one Christmas and visited the Church of Santa Prisca, adorned with them. He was captivated by its exotic beauty and took some specimens to cultivate and disseminate them in the greenhouses that he had at his home, in the town of Greenville, South Carolina.

Unraveling the history and legend of the Poinsettia Flower

As we can see, each action with the Christmas Flower was transformed into a reaction, due to its beauty, its appearance in such an adverse climate, the respect of the Catholic Church for its meaning, giving it use and propelling it both in Christmas decoration and in the advent wreath.

That is why it is somewhat difficult to unravel how much trustworthy there is in history and how much myth there is in legend; the truth is that its green and red colors have influenced the colors of the Christmas decorations, meaning red as new, fresh blood, which is translated as life; green being the hope, the mantle where the flower is sheltered at birth and that sustains it.

It can then be an ornament on the door, an advent wreath, a garden that indicates the way to whoever enters and leaves the home; equally, a present that signifies beauty and capturing in it the bad moments and pains that the Poinsettia will consume and encapsulate as it wither, taking them from our lives.

Just like Christmas, which comes once a year to renew our pact with God and to give us new courage for the times to come, this mystical plant arrives, which regardless of the intense cold or the intense heat, blooms to receive and adorn the times. of the Coming of the Lord.

History and legend of the Poinsettia Flower or Poinsettia

Books, audiobooks, oral legends, theater, family legacies, have intermingled, as we well said, the history and legend of the Poinsettia Flower or Poinsettia, with a halo of supernatural virtues that always coincide in the same point: appear to beautify and go with regrets.

For this reason, we narrate in a succinct and basted way, the great legend about the Poinsettia flower:

It happened that in a town in Guerrero, Mexico, at the time of the conquest, a humble girl adored the arrival of Christmas, because she offered fruits, toys or sweets to the Christ Child during the Christmas Eve Mass.

But her father some time before Christmas Day, lost his job and had no money or way to help his daughter with her noble company, which made her sad with worry.

When mass arrived and seeing how the other children left beautiful offerings to the Child Jesus, he began to cry and ran out of the church, hiding from the sight of the others between some bushes that he filled with his tears.

Suddenly, he heard the voice of a child who said to him: Please, don't cry anymore! Take those green plants that are there and take them to the altar of the Child Jesus.

He heeded the boy's advice and took a bunch of those wild plants. Still saddened by feeling that her offering was unworthy, she walked slowly into the church, not noticing the change that was taking place between her hands.

Inside, he noticed the astonishment of faces and voices among the customers who asked him where he had found or harvested such beautiful flowers. The plant in the girl's hands had gone from just green to bright red star-shaped leaves. A Christmas miracle had occurred.

The girl brought the flowers to the altar and said, Merry Christmas, Baby Jesus, also thanking him for having told her about the plants, something that the girl had not understood until she said it aloud and without her having thought about it.

When the parishioners left, they noticed that the plant began to appear on that and all the following Easter, making it the queen of their culture and adoration in December; Centuries later, it was also part of the decoration and devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe, whose feast is on December 12.

His fame, today

Feng Shui and New Age have brought this plant to its mystical and positivist herbalist. Some laboratories have introduced it in some lines of skin care and protection, with controlled plantings.

It is also one of the flagship flowers in the decoration of the floats of the Rose Parade, in Pasadena - California, thanks to its freshness that becomes the final flower in the decoration (due to the flowering season) and its harmonic and of empathy with the different audiences that associate her with the parties.

For this reason, it is somewhat difficult to separate between the history and legend of the Poinsettia Flower or Poinsettia, since popular beliefs and science and history seem to go hand in hand with it, both for its adornment and for the brightness it provides to homes and the meaning of beauty and protection as a gift of goodwill when given to a loved one.

The mangers, little trees, doors, tables, are decked out for the Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner with the Poinsettia, being a joyful, hopeful, tasteful and harmonious touch that fill family reunions with better vibes, whatever goes increasing its mystical value and natural influence for the most significant, powerful, unifying and expected date of the year, such as the Nativity of the Lord.

It therefore remains for each person to extract from the almost complex intersection of the history and legend of the Poinsettia Flower or Poinsettia, the tacit, general and particular element that prompts them to reflect on how heaven works on earth through nature. .

How a flower arrives at the most golden time of each year, like singing praises and covering with beautiful and intense colors that have become traditional (green and red with flashes of their yellow pistils, in addition to some varieties that can be blue, purple or beige), to make the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ more impressive.

See then, in the star that this plant forms, the guide to awaken your senses and understand that the added value of Christmas is in the different ways in which the Lord works to soothe our spirits and find the way to make ourselves more effective. and happy.

That the history and legend of the Poinsettia or Poisetia, be satisfactory for those who are believers or not, because it shows that despite adversity, when it comes to arising, adverse conditions do not matter, it does and gives everything for the whole to fulfill his noble mission.

And in times as strong as this, where adversity and the shadows of new evils, deficiencies and melancholy have been plaguing, turning his legend into energy to continue being strengthened and united is extremely necessary, so that faith is not lost. And reinforcing its added value with its history will help us understand that there are points of equity between the human and the divine where we can all meet equally.

To finish, tell you that with this article we want to wish all our loyal readers a Merry Christmas!