I need to know where the poinsettia came into Christmas and what it symbolizes...Thanks for input.
2007-12-04 09:01:28 · 6 answers · asked by Maw-Maw 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Senior Citizens
Christmas is a sacred time to the faithful of Mexico and people often celebrate by assembling and decorating life size nativities at the front of their churches. On Christmas Eve, parishioners are invited to bring a gift of thanksgiving to the manger at their church.
On a very special Christmas Eve, a little boy quietly walked to his church. Despite his desire to celebrate Christmas, he drug his feet a little as he walked, embarrassed that he was too poor to buy, or even make, a gift to take to the manger.
Abruptly, the great light of an angel appeared to him on the road, instructing him to pull weeds from the side of the road, and to take them as his gift to Jesus. With shaking hands, the boy did as the angel instructed and ran with his weeds the rest of the way to church.
When he arrived, he held his head high as he stepped to the front of the church. Laying the weeds in the manger, he knelt and began a prayer of thanks. As he prayed, his weeds transformed into magnificent, star shaped flowers of bright red, pink and white.
These Poinsettias, or “Flor de la Noche Buena," (the Flower of the Holy Night) amazed everyone in the church that Christmas Eve. Today, people around the world bring Poinsettias into their homes and churches at Christmas to remember the star that led the Wise Men, and a little boy in Mexico, to the most wonderful manger.
The Poinsettia was introduced into the United States by Joel Roberts Poinsett in 1828 while he was a minister in Mexico. It became a part of American Christmas tradition in the early 1900s when it was promoted by Californian Albert Ecke.
2007-12-04 09:13:55 · answer #1 · answered by Dan Bueno 4 · 11⤊ 0⤋
Poinsettias in legend
A Mexican legend explains how poinsettias came to be associated with Christmas. Apparently, a child who could not afford a gift to offer to Christ on Christmas Eve picked some weeds from the side of a road. The child was told that a humble gift, if given in love, would be acceptable in God's eyes. When brought into the church, the weeds bloomed into red and green flowers and the congregation felt they had witnessed a Christmas miracle.
The ancient Aztecs prized the poinsettia (cuetlaxochitl in Nahuatl) as a symbol of purity. Centuries later, Mexico's early Christians adopted the poinsettias as their prized Christmas flowers. The Mexican poinsettia, known as the Christmas Flower in North America, is used in many Christmas decorations.
In Turkey, it is known as "Atatürk's Flower", since it is considered to be the favorite flower of Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey. There is an urban legend that claims a professor named Kirk Landin of Vanderbilt University had discovered the flower in laboratory and given the name "Ataturk Flower" after the recommendation of a colleague who had worked in Tarsus American College in Turkey.
2007-12-04 18:23:37 · answer #2 · answered by sage seeker 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Beautiful story Dan Bueno never heard that explanation before.
2007-12-04 17:31:20 · answer #3 · answered by Aloha_Ann 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Great question Maw Maw, and I agree with pat-moor and chip monk, that was a wonderful story Dan Bueno....
2007-12-04 18:12:29 · answer #4 · answered by ♥ HOPE ♥ 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Thanks, good question!! I wondered that about poppies and veterans and it was explained to me on this site!!!
2007-12-04 17:21:34 · answer #5 · answered by ndnquah 6 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Wow -- thanks Dan Bueno, hadn't heard that before -- beautiful story.
2007-12-04 17:44:37 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋