The Legend of the Poinsettia

The legend of the poinsettia comes from Mexico .
It tells of a girl named Maria and her little brother Pablo.
They were very poor but always looked forward to the
Christmas festival. Each year a large manger scene was
set up in the village church, and the days before Christmas
were filled with parades and parties. The two children loved Christmas, but were always saddened because they had no money to buy presents. They especially wished that they
could give something to the church for the Baby Jesus.
But they had nothing. One Christmas Eve, Maria and Pablo
set out for church to attend the service. On their way they picked some weeds growing along the roadside and decided
to take them as their gift to the Baby Jesus in the manger scene. Of course they were teased by other children when
they arrived with their gift, but they said nothing for they
knew they had given what they could. Maria and Pablo
began placing the green plants around the manger and miraculously, the green top leaves turned into bright
red petals, and soon the manger was surrounded by
beautiful star-like flowers and so we see them today.