From the scorching heat of Mexico comes the legend and custom of the Poinsettia.

Christmas in Mexico has always been a huge festival. The towns and villages are decorated in brightly colored ribbons and banners, and parades and parties fill the streets.

Many years ago, in a small village, there lived a very poor family. In this family there lived a little girl named Maria and her little brother Pablo. Even though they were very poor, they looked forward to the Christmas season when the village was all decorated and there was a large nativity scene set up outside the village church.

Although the children loved Christmas, they were very sad that they did not have any money to buy presents. The thing that saddened them the most was that they had no money to give to the church for the Christ Child.

On this Christmas Eve long ago, the two children were walking to the church to celebrate the Christmas Eve services when Maria noticed some weeds growing along the side of the road. The children decided to pick the pretty green weeds and take them to the Baby Jesus as their gift.

When Maria and Pablo got to the church, the other children started to tease them about their gift of weeds. The two children were very sad and said nothing as they placed the green plants around the nativity scene and then went inside the church to mass.

Jesus was very pleased with this lowly gift from the heart of the children and the green leaves on the top of the plant turned into bright red petals. When Maria and Pablo came out of the church after the service, their sad faces turned to huge smiles when they saw their beautiful gifts to the Christ Child.

Over one hundred years ago, the United States of America sent Dr. Joel Poinsett to Mexico as their first ambassador, and it was he who brought the Poinsettia Plant back to his country. Since then, the Poinsettia has become a favorite symbol of Christmas all around the world, and people often give one of these plants to the hostess of a home when visiting during the holiday season.

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