This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Centers for East Asian Studies and Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

The poinsettia with its bright green and red leaves is a ubiquitous, some might say too ubiquitous, symbol of American Christmas. Now. But not always. In fact, it has its roots in Southern Mexico, dating back to the non-Christian Aztecs who considered the red color a symbol of purity, and used the flower, called Cuetlaxochitl, (kwet- la - sho - sheet) in Nahuatl (nah-whaat), in religious ceremonies, the leaves to dye fabric and the sap for medicinal purposes. The flower first entered the Christmas canon in the 17th century when it appeared in a Franciscan nativity procession in Southern Mexico earning the name “la flor de Nochebuena,” the flower of Holy Night. It was Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico and the man it was ultimately named for, who brought it to the US in 1828. A blessing or a curse? You decide.

With thanks to Danika Swanson for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.