#AdventCalendar 23: THE LEGEND OF THE POINSETTIA

THE LEGEND OF THE POINSETTIA

Dedicated to Madame Ana Laviste Arner, may she rest in peace -without my grandmother's encouragement, I would not be the one I am-, along with a spiritual pot of crimson poinsettia leaves.

Though it was Christmas Eve, Pepita was feeling sad. The little house where she lived with her grandmother was not decorated, there was not a single ornament... and the old lady and the orphan had not enough money to buy one another even a single present.
"Don't feel this sad, Pepita," her abuela said. "Come, give me a kiss. Even the most insignificant gift from a person who loves you can make you happy, if it's from someone whom you love as well."
Pepita gave her grandmother a great kiss, and hugged her as strong as she could.
"All right, go out for a walk. Look," her abuela said with a word of encouragement, "there old legs of mine cannot carry me to church, and will never again do so, but you can go there to see the crèche where the Niño Jesús is resting."
Pepita wrapped herself in her shawl and left towards the village. The streets were full of people carrying presents that they would leave in front of the crèche.
Upon crossing the crowd, she felt ill-at-ease for not bringing anything, because she had nothing she could give away. Upon entering the church, she stopped on the threshold without entering, dropping her head out of shame for presenting herself empty-handed.
All of a sudden, Pepita remembered words of wisdom from her grandmother: "Even the most insignificant gift from someone who loves you makes you happy, as long as that person really loves you." She looked all around, skimming the threshold with her eyes, but all that she could see were the weeds that grew all along the wayside. Would that succeed in making Jesus happy, with such a humble gift? She doubted for a while, but, since she could not see anything else, and since there was not anything else, she wound up picking a handful of weeds, then tied them into a bouquet, and, following the others, entered the church in their wake.
When the people of the congregation saw her walking along the nave with her bouquet of weeds, they glared daggers at her and began to whisper in each other's ears; some of them even laughed. "This is not a gift worthy of the Niño Jesús," they said. Yet Pepita kept on walking bravely, without paying the least attention to them.
And what a surprise overcame her when, as she came nearer and nearer the crèche... all of a sudden, she opened her wide eyes like oranges: the weed leaves were turning red! Everyone else kept silence and watched her, stupefied. With every step Pepita took, the leaves turned a beautiful crimson red and in the shape of stars! Little by little, the weeds transformed until Pepita's arms were full of lovely blood-red leaves in the shape of stars. She smiled for sheer joy and, thus smiling with elation, Pepita left the flower-like leaves in between the bull and the mule, and she arranged them so that they formed a brilliant, splendid crimson garland all around the straw bed of the Niño Jesús.
Then, all the faithful approached to light a candle and leave it in front of the crèche, for they all felt that they had just witnessed a miracle.
As, on that Christmas Eve, a light-hearted Pepita left the church, her heart was singing with sheer happiness and elation. By the wayside, she saw that there was a red poinsettia that must have fallen from her arms. And thus, she picked it up and ran all the way home, eager and impatient to give it as a gift to her abuela.