23/12/2025
🌺🇲🇽 The Christmas Flower the World Forgot Was Born in Mexico
Every December, millions of homes glow with bright red poinsettias.
They fill shopping malls, churches, offices, family photos — almost everywhere.
But what very few people know is this:
🌺✨ That famous Christmas flower is originally Mexican.
Long before the world called it “poinsettia,”
long before it became a symbol of December holidays…
the Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica knew it as Cuetlaxóchitl,
a flower of beauty, meaning, and ceremony.
To the Mexica (Aztecs), this was not just a decoration.
They used it to:
✔ honor warriors
✔ create natural dyes
✔ prepare traditional remedies
✔ decorate temples and celebrations
Its red color symbolized life, renewal, and new beginnings.
When the Spanish arrived, the Cuetlaxóchitl didn’t disappear —
it simply found a new purpose.
Its vibrant red bracts began appearing on Christmas altars across New Spain.
🇲🇽➡️🌎 And eventually, Mexico shared it with the world.
In the 1800s, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico took the plant north.
From there, it spread, gained a new name — poinsettia —
and became a global Christmas icon.
But its roots?
Its history?
Its cultural heart?
❤️ All Mexican.
So the next time you see a red Christmas flower, remember this:
It didn’t come from a catalog.
It didn’t come from Europe or America.
It came from the ancient gardens of Mesoamerica,
from Indigenous knowledge,
from the land where it first bloomed.
🎄🌺 A gift from Mexico to the entire world.
