u quattro Barbara
u sie Nicola
u uettu Maria
u tririci Lucia
u vinticinque
u Vermessia 1

…

The plant we know as the Poinsettia is native to Mexico and Central America. The Aztecs called this familiar staple of the Christmas season “cuetlaxóchitl”—roughly translating to “flower that grows in residues (or excrement)”as it is dispersed through the droppings of the birds who eat their seeds.

Description
The scarlet petals —sometimes pink, white or coral colored—are actually bracts, modified leaves that surround the small yellow flowers on the end of the plant’s tall stems. These brightly colored bracts help attract pollinators to the small flowers but also ensure that the plant blooms because cuetlaxochitl needs extended periods of darkness in order to do so…which brings me to its Christmas association.

Winter Solstice
Responding to the lengthening nights after the autumn equinox, in its native world, wild cuetlaxochitl comes into bloom by the month of December. For the Aztec, the height of bloom around the winter solstice—the darkest time—signaled the start of a new cycle of life. Furthermore, the plant’s flowering happened to coincide with the date of the birth of Huitzilopochtli, the Sun God of the Aztec people.

This timing, however, took on a different significance for the Catholic missionaries who arrived in Mexico during the 17th century. For them, the annual bloom coincided with Christmas—with the pattern on its leaf representing the Star of Bethlehem and the scarlet red color associated with the blood of their Christ.

Extra: The name “Poinsetta” is derived from a 19th century botanist named Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first US Minister to Mexico who began exporting and cultivating the plants into America.

 

The above picture and text came from a Facebook posting from The Wyrd Sister.

The Calabrian poem, next to the picture of the poinsettia, is one I learned from my grandmother and it has stayed with me. The poem lists the major Saint Days leading up to Christmas.
December 4 is the feast of St. Barbara
December 6 is the feast of St. Nicholas of Bari
December 8 is the feast of The Immaculate Conception (Mary)
December 13 is the feast of St. Lucy
December 25 is the feast of the Real Messiah