Garden of Grandeur

When preparing a home for the Christmas holidays poinsettias are often involved. They are frequently placed both inside homes, and outside as decorative features. Aside from the fact that they fit the traditional Christmas colour bill, you may have wondered why they are associated with the holiday in the first place. Well, you are in luck, because I was wondering the same thing.

Turns out it has evolved from a Mexican legend, yep that surprised me too. Anyway, it is said that a young Mexican girl was searching for something to show her appreciation to the Virgin Mary on Christmas Eve, but she is poor and thus unable to acquire anything that she believes to be appropriate. Thus she sets out empty handed to attend church, but is visited by an angel en route.

The angel directs her to collect a handful of weeds, which she does with some hesitation. With the weeds in her possession she enters a church and leaves them as an offering. As she deposits them on an altar, they transform into gorgeous red poinsettias. From this folktale, the Mexican’s renamed the flower the Christmas Eve Flower.