The Christmas Star

photo credits: www.wikipedia.org & www.emaze.com
Memory tags: Poinsettia blooms in Shillong at Christmas

December is the month with the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the longest daylight hours of the year in the Southern Hemisphere. December’s birthstone is the blue turquoise and its birth flower is the Holly and Poinsettia.

It was a black, thick bound volume that could only be accommodated on the last shelf. I remember taking out William Prescott’s Conquest of Mexico for my father to read. I didn’t know then, its author was not only a historian but also a horticulturist. He was asked to give the plant Euphorbia pulcherrima a common name. He chose its common name after the first American Ambassador to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett. The ambassador often wandered into the Mexican countryside looking for plants. On one such ramble he found a beautiful plant growing by the roadside. It was a shrub bearing flaming red flowers above dark green leaves. Charmed by its beauty he plants home to South Carolina in 1828. A closer look revealed the flaming ‘flowers’ were actually top leaves or bracts. The real flowers were small yellow structures found in the center of each coloured “leaf” bunch! Joel Roberts Poinsett will always be first remembered for introducing this flower and only then, for being an accomplished diplomat. This was a plant already known to science, named Euphorbia pulcherrima, by the German botanist, Wilenow. The name he gave meant “most beautiful euphorbia,“ so mesmerized was he by the dazzling plant in his greenhouse! It is also commonly known as the Mexican Flame Leaf, Winter rose, Star of Bethlehem, Christmas star, the list goes on.

Yes, the star shaped flaming red poinsettia is as much part of Christmas as is the Christmas tree. Our gardens in Shillong are brightened by its bloom at this time of the year. Though the red is most common, cultivated varieties with orange, pale green, cream and marbled leaves have been produced. Infact, there are 109 varieties of poinsettia available; Shillong are you counting? The fact that it blooms around Christmas time, is the reason for legends connecting it with the miracle of Christmas.

A young Mexican girl was too poor to buy a gift for the child Jesus. An angel inspired the child to gather weeds from the roadside and place them in front of the church altar. The child fashioned the weeds into a bouquet, amid much ridicule, laid it at the foot of the nativity scene. Miraculously, the top green leaves turned into bright-red petals! Soon, the manger was surrounded by beautiful star-like flowers. So these flowers became a part of the Christmas miracle, and were called Flores de Noche Buena" or Flowers of the Holy Night. In the 17th century, Franciscan monks near Taxco in Mexico, began to use the flower in a nativity procession the Fiesta of Santa Pesebre. It soon came to be symbolic of the Star of Bethlehem and thus associated itself with the Christmas season.

The flaming poinsettias were highly valued by the last Aztec Kings- Netzahualcyotl and Montezuma. They had them brought in by caravans, when then discovered, their capital , present day Mexico city was too high to grow them. Poinsettias bloom in the tropical highlands during the short days of winter and are native to Central America. They flourish in an area of Southern Mexico known as Taxco del Alarcon. Here the ancient Aztecs called this plant Cuetlaxochitle and used it for more than decorative purposes. From its brightly coloured bracts, they extracted a reddish/purplish dye for use in textiles and cosmetics. The milky-white sap (known today as latex) was made into a preparation which the Aztecs used to treat fevers.

As you read this ,the date is 7th of December. It is Pearl Harbour day in the United States and Armed Forces Flag Day in India , and 11 days since India’s 9/11.Will the poinsettias mark the end of a year of terror and the beginning of peace ? On that hopeful note let us toast the last month of the year with a poinsettia cocktail, made with dry sparkling white wine, vodka, and cranberry juice. Life must not only be allowed to go on but prevail over senseless death.

Main resources:

1. Encyclopedia Britannica
2. Wikipedia