Poinsettia: The Christmas Star

Many people think that the large red leaves of the beautiful poinsettia plant are the flowers.  Actually the flowers are quite tiny and are a yellowish-white color.  The leaves are sometimes also colored pink, white, yellow or green.  The plants, which bloom in December, are also known as “the Christmas Star,” “the lobster flower,” “the Mexican flame leaf,” and “las Flores de Noche Buena.” Since the early nineteenth century, poinsettias have had a close association with the Christmas holiday in the United States.

Poinsettias are indigenous to Mexico and Central America so it makes sense that the first known mention of poinsettias is in Aztec sources. The flowers were used as a source of a red dye to color clothing.  The Aztecs saw the intense red color as a symbol of purity.

There are two very similar Mexican legends about the origins of the plant, both involving children.  In both legends, poor children could not afford to buy flowers so they lovingly collected weeds to place on the Christmas nativity crèche at their church.  As the congregants prayed, the offering was blessed as the weeds turned into a blazing red display.

Franciscan priests in Taxco, Mexico in the seventeenth century used poinsettias in their celebration of the Feast of Santa Pesebre.  A pesebre is a nativity scene similar to a crèche.

The earliest name for the plants was the Aztec cuetlaxochitl.  The most common modern name comes from Joel Roberts Poinsett (1779-1851), who brought the plants to the United States in 1825.  Poinsett was the first United States Minister to Mexico.

The Aztec understanding of the meaning of the poinsettia speaks to me: purity, especially since some Christians have come to associate the intense red color of the plants with the Blood of Christ.  It is sometimes forgotten that the most important Christian holiday is not Christmas, but Easter, which commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The poinsettia image is from Andre Karwath, a contributor to the Wikimedia Commons Project, and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 2.5 Generic provision.

What They Think of Us: Jesusween

Jesusween is intended to be a Christian alternative to Halloween.  As with the totally ludicrous Bibleman television series, Christians really do need to be more discriminating in what they support.  Some things seem to be almost designed to bring ridicule on the ἐκκλησία.  Almost every mention of this Jesusween "holiday" in print and on the internet has a sneering tone to it, as if what they really think of it is "jesus weenie."  In American slang usage a "weenie" is a person who is weak, ineffectual, silly, negligible, ridiculed, etc. Think of the PeeWee Herman character.

The unbelievers will heap on the ridicule and will not be above deliberately misquoting and twisting what has been said.  Time.com (Time Magazine) says:
"JesusWeen founder Pastor Paul Ade began replacing sugar with scripture in 2002. “All it took was putting a bible into every bag as they opened each bag with a smile,” declares the JesusWeen website, adding that it was “much easier than expected” to trick kids into thinking the Bible was a treat." (the bold text emphasis is mine. JFM)


What was actually said was: (from the Jesusween website )
"In 2002, Pastor Paul requested 300 copies of New Testament pocket size Bibles from the Bible Society to use for personal evangelism. A few days before Halloween, a word came to him to give out bibles to everyone knocking at his door expecting candy. On that day over 40 bibles were given out without him stepping out of his house. All it took was putting a bible into every bag as they opened each bag with a smile. It was much easier than expected and since then God kept on talking to Pastor Paul about how to help Gods people make use of the “Go Ye” instruction every October 31st and on major public holidays."

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/10/10/the-latest-christian-halloween-protest-jesusween/#ixzz1bur85WGu 

Kwanzaa

The celebration of Kwanzaa begins today and runs through 1 January, 2011.  The holiday, which is cultural rather than religious,  is primarily observed in the United States; the name of the celebration comes from the Swahili phrase, matunda ya kwanzaa, which in English is translated as "first fruits of the harvest."

Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by Maulanga Ron Karenga (b. 1941), a college professor, political activist, and black nationalist.  He called it a "communitarian African philosophy" and stated that the festival was intended to  help African-Americans reconnect with their African heritage.

Each of the seven days of the festival features a different African value: Umoja (Unity); Kujichagulia (Self-determination); Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility; Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics; Nia (Purpose);  Kuumba (Creativity; and Imani (Faith).

The festival has no overt religious content though some celebrants combine it with their Christmas festivities.  Nothing about the festival seems to be directly incompatible with Christianity.  Some criticism of the festival is based on its collectivist impulses.