A Poinsettia Story

I was searching for a 'Poinsettia Legend' and found several, some similar, and some quite different.  This one is short and sweet. I have no idea the validity of this story, but it's fun to imagine this sweet little girl and boy taking their gift to the Baby Jesus and the miracle that happened.

 

These beautiful flowers are native to Mexico, and it is from this country that we we learn the legend of the first poinsettia.

 

 

 The story is told of a poor girl, Maria, and her little brother, Pablo. The two loved the annual Mexican Christmas festival with its large manger scene, but each year were disappointed that they had no money to buy a present for the baby Jesus. 

 

 

One Christmas Eve, Maria and Pablo stopped on their way to church to pick some weeds growing along the roadside to give to the baby Jesus. The other children chided them for their gift, but Maria and Pablo knew their gift was from the heart, and it was all they could give. As they began to place their plants around the manger, the green-top leaves miraculously turned into bright red petals.

 Soon the manger was surrounded by beautiful star-shaped flowers and became known as Flores de Noche Buena - Flowers of the Holy Night - the first poinsettias. 

Poinsettias were first introduced to the United States in 1825 by Joel Robert Poinsett, amateur botanist and first ambassador to Mexico, when he brought some cuttings to his plantation in Greenwood, South Carolina. Upon his death in 1851, December 12th was named National Poinettia Day in his honor.

Until Next Time
It's not about the presents,
It's about His Presence!