The Miracle of the Poinsettia

     Once upon a time, in a tiny village in Mexico, there lived a young girl named Pepita. Pepita was very sad because she had no gift to present to the Christ Child at Christmas Eve Services. She walked very slowly to the chapel with her cousin, Pedro. Her heart was filled with sadness rather than joy.

     "Pepita, I am sure," said Pedro consolingly, "that even the most humble gift, if given in love, will be acceptable in His eyes."

     Not knowing what else to do, Pepita knelt by the roadside and gathered a handful of common weeds, fashioning them into a small bouquet. Looking at the scraggly bunch of weeds, she felt more saddened and more embarrassed than ever by the humbleness of her offering. She fought back her tears as she entered the small village chapel.

     As she approached the altar, she remembered Pedro’s kind words: "Even the most humble gift, if given in love, will be acceptable in His eyes." She felt her spirit lift as she knelt to lay the bouquet at the foot of the nativity scene.

     Suddenly the bouquet of weeds burst into blooms of brilliant red! All who saw them were certain that they had witnessed a Christmas miracle right before her eyes.

     From that day on, the bright red flowers became known as the Flores de Noche Buena (Flowers of the Holy Night). This special flower blooms each year during the Christmas season.

     This beautiful flower was named Poinsettia after Joel Roberts Poinsett, who was the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico appointed by President Andrew Jackson in the 1820's.

     During his stay in Mexico, he wandered into the countryside looking for a new plant species. In 1828 he came upon a beautiful shrub with large red flowers growing next to the road. Perhaps this was the very road where Pepita first picked her miraculous bouquet!

     It was Mr. Poinsett who brought this flower to the United States. In the U.S., we continue to call this plant "poinsettia," for the man who first brought the plant to the this country. Mexico continues to call this plant "flores de noche buena," recalling a miraculous moment one special Christmas Eve brought forth through the faith of a child.