Each year, the holiday season that
begins with Thanksgiving Day and runs
through New Year’s Day is a time for
most U.S. Americans to contemplate their
good fortune, demonstrate compassion and
concern for one another, and hope for
peace on earth.
This time of the
year is also a time for reflection. For
the past several years, immigration has
dominated center stage across the
nation. There are those who cite the
growing negative influences transplants
are having on “their” society, “their”
economy and “their” culture. This
prompted me to think about the
contributions by transplants to our
nation’s social and cultural fabric.
As we prepare to
celebrate the annual year-end holiday
season one such transplant comes to
mind: the cuetlaxochitl (kweh-tlah-SOH-cheel),
which has come to symbolize the most
revered of our nation’s holidays. This
particular transplant is a native of
Central America and Mexico, and was once
part of the botanical gardens that
existed throughout the pre-Colombian
Aztec empire. During that era, flora
was cultivated for its beauty, as well
as practical purposes. The Mexicas
(meh-CHEE-kahs), whose culture was
adopted by most of the tribes of the
Aztec civilization, used the
cuetlaxochitl to adorn their
environments, cure fevers, and dye
clothing and artifacts.
Most Hispanics in
the U.S. know the colorful plant as the
flor de la noche buena (Spanish
for flower of the Holy Night) because
its leaves turn a flame-red color during
the Christmas holiday. In the U.S. this
Mexican transplant has a different
history and name. It is associated with
Joel Robert Poinsett, the Ambassador to
Mexico in the 1820s. While in Mexico,
Mr. Poinsett reportedly visited a church
where the parishioners had decorated the
Nativity scene with local, bright red
foliage that gave the church a “very
elegant and uncommon appearance.” The
Ambassador imported cuttings from these
plants to his South Carolina hothouses
and introduced the nochebuena to
the USA. Today, the plant is commonly
seen as the national symbol of our
nation’s holiday season.
To Mexican, Central
American, and U.S. Hispanic Christians,
the flor de la noche buena is
still associated with Christmas. Yet to
many non-Hispanics, it is recognized
only in its disposable potted state, but
in its natural environment — that
includes much of the Southwestern U.S. —
it grows up to 10 feet tall. Who could
have imagined that a shrubby, rather
obscure plant with reddish leaves (that
really aren’t flowers) would someday
become the second-most popular plant
sold in the entire USA?
As the
cuetlaxochitl has come to represent
the holiday season in the U.S., so too
has the USA come to symbolize to the
world a sanctuary for those seeking
equality, opportunity, and access to the
American Dream! If transplants like the
poinsettia (and avocados, chile peppers,
chocolate, corn, peanuts, potatoes and
tomatoes) can enrich our nation's
quality of life; consider the
contributions the people who
domesticated these resources can make to
our nation’s further growth and
development.
As we celebrate
peace on earth and goodwill towards our
fellow man this holiday season let us
remember that most of our ancestors were
also transplanted from foreign lands,
which underscores the value of
immigrants to our nation’s past,
present, and future.
(Jim Estrada is a
former television journalist and
corporate marketing executive. He is a
nationally recognized practitioner of
ethnic marketing and communications with
over 30 years of advertising, marketing
and public relations experience.
“Transplant Becomes Symbol of U.S.
Holiday Season” is excerpted from his
upcoming book, “The GIANT Stirs: The
ABCs and Ń of America’s Cultural
Evolution.”)
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