Why Poinsettia Day is celebrated, know the history behind it

National Poinsettia Day has been customarily celebrated for over 150 years on December 12th. Poinsettia Day, a day to praise the ever-well known red flower used around the Christmas season. Poinsettia Day on December 12 likewise forms a cultural bridge between the U.S. and Mexico.

The poinsettia is a commercially significant plant species of the diverse spurge family (Euphorbiaceae). Indigenous to Central America, it was portrayed as a new species in 1834. It is especially notable for its red and green foliage and is broadly utilized in Christmas flower shows.

Poinsettia Day History

To discover where the Poinsettia flower originated from, we need to investigate the past. In 1480 to his demise, Aztec King Montezuma adorned his palace with Poinsettia or Cuetlaxochitl as it was known by the Aztecs, having his people develop the flower as a gift from the Gods.

Poinsettia was served as a reminder of the sacrifice that the Aztec gods had made to make the universe and that the obligation would be reimbursed in human sacrifices. The Aztecs utilized the Poinsettia’s sap to cure fevers and the leaves make a dye.

At that point, in the 17th century, after the Conquistadors attacked Mexico, the blood-red wildflower became a part of the Christian ceremony for the first time when it was utilized in the nativity parade, the Fiesta of Santa Pesebre. It’s around this time numerous legends originated, endeavoring to clarify why the plant, starting to be called “La flor de Nochebuena,” or Holy Night had obtained its brilliant and excellent red color.

After being found in 1828 by Joel Roberts Poinsett, the poinsettia became a famous specimen among botanists. One Botanist specifically by the name of Wilenow, in 1833 he named the Poinsettia “Euporbia pulcherrima.” But after just four years another botanist by the name of William Hickling Prescott renamed the flower to “Poinsettia pulcherrima” to pay tribute to the man who took the flower back to be studied, Joel Poinsett.

United States Ambassador to Mexico from 1825-1829, Joel Roberts Poinsett sent specimens of the flower to his South Carolina greenhouses, therefore, presenting the native of southern Mexico to the United States. Poinsett died on December 12th, 1851.

In July 2002, the House of Representatives made Poinsettia Day out of appreciation for Paul Ecke Jr. who found and built up a system in which seedlings branch. His disclosure has enabled the Poinsettia industry to flourish. Poinsettias contribute millions every year to the U.S. economy and are the best selling potted plant at the wholesale level in the U.S. also, Canada.

In Mexico, the Poinsettia, “la flor de Nochebuena”, is shown around Dia de la Virgen, December 12. In the U.S., Poinsettia day is likewise December 12. The date denotes the demise of Joel Roberts Poinsett, an American botanist, doctor, and Minister to Mexico who in 1828 sent cuttings of the plant he’d found in Southern Mexico to his home in Charleston, South Carolina. Botanically, the plant is known as Euphorbia Pulcherrima.