Pagan Christmas (14 page)

Texochitl yamanqui. The first botanical drawing of false rose of Jericho (Selaginella lepidophylla), a club moss from Mexico. (Illustration from Martín de la Cruz, Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis; Aztec manuscript from 1552)

The “rose of Jericho” offered for sale in modern Germany is a dried but live plant from Mexico (Selaginella lepidophylla).

A living Selaginella with widespread leaves (Shimbé, Peru). This plant is used as a magical plant by Peruvian curanderos (healers) and shamans during nighttime rituals.

The poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is originally from Central America but quickly spread to South America. The inconspicuous flowers, which can be found in the middle of the bright red sepals (leaflike structures) that attract the eye, are actually very small and unattractive.

In the eighteenth century, folk healers prescribed yamanquitexocitl for illnesses of the liver and kidneys and “melancholic hypochondria.” In contemporary Mexican folk medicine, it is used for relief of temporary impotence and to treat tabaquismo, chronic nicotine overdose. Applied topically in powdered form, Selaginella can be rubbed on painful body parts as a protection against illnesses caused by bewitchment. Kidney ailments are treated with a tea, doradilla y cola de caballo, made from Selaginella and horsetail (Equisetum spp.)—a combination of Christmas rose and Christmas tree!

Selaginella is best collected in October. In the Mexican state of Puebla, the plant is offered up on Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead (November 1). On Christmas Eve, the baby Jesus (el niño Dios) can be found nestled in those flowers, and the people make a Christmas tea from doradilla and cabellos de elote (sweet corn flat cakes).

Christmas Stars

Many flower blossoms remind us of radiant stars in appearance and color. Poets wrote lyrically about “blossom stars,” and star-shaped flowers and pointed seeds gave rise to folk names such as star herb, a common name for woodruff (Galium odoratum). A popular star-shaped Christmas baking spice is called star anise (Illicium verum). Such comparisons of flowers and other plant parts with stars lead ultimately to the Christmas star or star of Bethlehem, a natural conclusion from the Christian point of view that dominated even science until at least the end of the nineteenth century.

Poinsettia: The Christmas Star

Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch, Euphorbiaceae

OTHER NAMES

Adventsstern (Advent star), alwa’ akal ch’ohool’ (Huaxtec, Christmas plant), bandera (Spanish, flag), bebeta, catalina (“little dung-heap”), Christmas bush, Christmas flower, Christstern (“Christ star”),9 cuitlaxochitl (Nahuatl, “yellow Christmas flower”), estrella federal (Spanish, “federal star”), feuerblume (“fire flower”), flor de navidad (Spanish, “flower of the holy birth”), flor de nochebuena (Spanish, “flower of the holy night”), flor de Santa Catalina, hirtenrose (“shepherd’s rose”), lalupate or lalupati (Nepali, “red leaf”), lalu pati dhupa (“incense of the red flower”), liebesstern (“love star”), listoncillo, Mexican flame leaf, noche buena, pascuaxochitl (Nahuatl, flor de pascua,10 “Christmas flower”), poinsette, poinsettia, Weihnachtsblume (“Christmas flower”), Weihnachtsstern (“Christmas star”)

The “blossoms” (sepals) of the poinsettia. The gruesome Hindu witch goddess, Kali, loves this flower the most. After the red rhododendron, lalupate is the most important flower for ritual offerings to Kali.

Lalupate, “red-leaf star incense,” or lalu pati dhupa, “red flower incense” are Nepali names for the dried raw material, which consists of flowers, fruits, and the bright red poinsettia “blossoms” (sepals). (Kathmandu, Nepal, March 2003)

The poinsettia’s tall red sepals attract attention. They shine like a floral illusion on the stem. This flower blossom miracle is an obvious sign that the time of the holy feast is upon us. In its native country, the evergreen poinsettia shrub grows to a height of 3 to 4 meters (about 13 feet). Its big, jagged leaves form a starlike pattern. Its wild form—seeming rather a poor relation today—can be seen in the tropical rain forest of the Mexican state of Chiapas, especially near the splendid Mayan ruins of Palenque.

Why has poinsettia—a plant from the tropics—become such a popular symbol for Advent? This is a plant from the New World, not from the cold winter woods of the north, where the Yule feast originated, or the arid deserts of the Middle East, where the stable of Bethlehem stood. Where did the poinsettia get its start in botanical history? Strangely enough, this is an early example of a classic marketing success story! In 1828, Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett, an American from South Carolina, “discovered” the ever-popular Christmas star in Mexico and began to propagate it in the United States. His report on the plant and his translation of the Mexican name as “flower of the holy night” secured for the ornamental shrub an important place in the Christmas botany of Europe and North America. During the Christmas season, we see potted poinsettias everywhere in supermarkets and flower shops. They decorate shop windows, public buildings, and private homes. Their red leaves send an obvious message: Attention! Christmas is at the door. Be ready! Buy me, and with me, buy the promise of tropical blossom splendor!

The goddess Kali. (Relief in a Tantric shrine in Kathmandu, Nepal)

The amrita wedding jug by the door of a Newari house in Kathmandu. Decorated with poinsettias and swastikas, the jug is a lucky charm for the new marriage. (Photo by Claudia Müller-Ebeling, Nepal, March 2003)

MAGICAL AND FOLK USE

Mexican folk nomenclature and usage of the plant harks back to old gods and saints and the longstanding role of the plant in Christmas rituals. Many Indians in Chiapas use the chili pepper–red leaf stars as offerings and dedication gifts for ancient pagan gods or pre-Catholic saints. The Tonotaken, a people from the land of vanilla (Central America) who were suppressed by the Aztecs, decorate their altars for Christmas with the red and green leaves.

For Hindus in India and Nepal, the red color of the “false illusion” petals of the poinsettia symbolize the female life force (Majupuria and Joshi 1988, 223). Europeans associated it with the red garb of Father Christmas.

The Aztec name cuitlaxochitl (bastard flower of the gods) refers to the plant category of xochitl, “flower.” However, in Aztec, xochitl does not merely mean flower. Rather, the meaning amounts to something like “plant that makes consciousness blossom.” These “flowers of the Earth” are magic, shamanic plants (for example, peyote cactus) with psychoactive effects that can give human beings “blossoming dreams.” The word xochitl also has a sexual connotation. The vulva is the blossom of a woman, because out of it blooms a new human being—a flesh-and-blood blossom miracle. The star of Christmas (poinsettia) is not psychoactive, but through its symbolism, does stimulate the power of fantasy.

The whole plant contains a milky latex.11 The Florentine Codex, an Aztec source from the sixteenth century, stated that the people considered this latex a galactogogue, meaning that it was used to stimulate milk production in nursing women.12 Christian missionaries associated this folk custom with the nourishing mother of God, and made the indigenous people worship the plant in honor of the birth of Christ.13 The Huaxtec, who live near the Gulf of Mexico and whose language is related to Mayan, have called the poinsettia alwa’ akal ch’ohool (Christmas plant) since the time they were Christianized. They make a tea from the shoots in order to read and sing more easily and to become wiser (Alcorn 1984, 648, 650).

In Nepal, where the poinsettia grows splendidly, the plant is called lalupate, “red-leaf star incense,” or lalu pati dhupa, “incense of the red flower.” This name refers to its starlike bud and the use of its seeds, buds, and fruits as ingredients for incense for shamanic rituals (Müller-Ebeling
et al.
2000, 54, 151). It is also used to make “witch smoke” (bokshi dhup), an incense mixture for warding off the dangerous influence of witches and demons—much like the smudging performed during the raw nights in old Germany.

Lalupate (or lalupati) is the favorite flower for sacrificial offerings to the Hindu goddess Kali. Kali is simultaneously the embodiment of both the destructive and creative aspects of the loving goddess Parvati. Europeans considered Kali the Indian sister of the Greek magic goddess, Hecate, who originated in Asia Minor. Some scholars of witchcraft believe the German word for witch (hexe) is derived from her name.

For the Newari, who live in the valley of Kathmandu in Nepal and work as craftsmen and merchants, the poinsettia is the traditional flower of marriage, serving a purpose similar to that of Barbara’s boughs for our ancestors. On her wedding day, a Newari bride becomes Kali, recognizing the necessary destruction of old bonds to make way for new things (Mookerjee 1988). It is only on her wedding day that a woman finally leaves her parents’ home to become a part of her husband’s household. During this drastic rearrangement of the social order, lalupati symbolizes fertility, the blossoming of new life, the flower blossom miracle of the holy wedding night, and the bride’s farewell to her parents’ home.

On the wedding day, two copper or brass jugs are placed next to the entry to the bride’s home. They are filled with water that represents godly soma (also called amrita or nectar) and topped with an earthenware bowl filled with yogurt. The white color and source of the yogurt remind the Nepalis of the holy white cow and its nourishing power, just as Christians see white snow as a symbol of the innocence and the immaculate conception of Mary. The yogurt is decorated with the sign of the swastika, created with a sprinkling of red tika powder.14 Red poinsettia blossoms surround the jugs.

The sight of the swastika is utterly appalling to most Americans and Europeans, especially Germans. But this symbol has been known since prehistoric times in practically all cultures. It represents the wheel of life, the sun and the course of the Earth around it, the four seasons, the cyclical nature of existence, the five elements, shamanic power, and the pre-Lamaistic Bon religion of Tibet. The word swastika comes from the Sanskrit and translates literally as “from good luck.” The swastika is the holy cross of Kali. A swastika turning to the left represents autumn and winter and is considered female; turning to the right indicates male power and symbolizes spring and summer. The swastika is also dedicated to the snake gods and the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha. In Asia, his sign on temples and houses protects human beings from the evil eye (Stutley 1985, 139).

Star of Bethlehem

Ornithogalum umbellatum L., Liliaceae

OTHER NAMES

Doldiger milchstern, dove’s dung, drudenzwiebel, gemeine vogelmiclh, milchstern (“milk star”), star of Bethlehem, stern der heiligen drei könige, sternchen, sternchengucker, sternkraut, sterntaler, weisse sternchen

A yellow-orange flower form of star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum arabicum) in March.

Crown of thorns (Euphorbia milii from Madagascar) is closely related to the poinsettia or Christmas star (Euphorbia pulcherrima). Here crown of thorns is depicted as a Christmas flower blossom miracle. (Postcard © Sulamith Wülfing)

Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) is a white-flowered lily plant. The bulb contains the digitalis-like poison convallatoxin, which is also found in lily-of-thevalley (Convallaria majalis). (Woodcut from Tabernaemontanus 1731, 1020)

This lily plant, native to the eastern Mediterranean, is distributed widely across Europe today. There are around eighty species. The leaves are green in winter; the mostly white and sometimes yellow blossoms develop May through June.

The name star of Bethlehem refers not only to the plant’s starlike, white blossoms, but also to its hope-inspiring ability to become green during winter, around the time of the birth of the son of God in the stable of Bethlehem. The white color of the flower and its botanical origin in the lily family reinforce its symbolic association with Mary’s immaculate conception of Jesus. Older Greek sources associate the plant—originally from Cyprus—with the love goddess, Aphrodite:

Here on the hard ground, above sand and stones, the tender little white flower called the star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum tonuifolium) is growing—a spring flower whose origin is on Cyprus. The Cypriots say that the white flower first grew under the naked foot of the newborn Aphrodite. Aphrodite stepped on the ground, and flowers, roses, were born (Grigson 1978, 32f).

Since the earliest days of recorded history, victors of war have imposed their own ideas and value systems on the defeated. They destroyed or demonized what was important and holy to the defeated culture or assimilated their holidays and rituals into their own customs. This has been true also for plants and their common names. Some plants holy to pagans were demonized as “devil’s weed”; others came to be associated with the story of Jesus, the symbolism of Mary, and the traditions of Christmas. The Christian renaming of milk star (Milchstern), holy to the Greek love goddess Aphrodite, as “star of Bethlehem” provides a good example of this.

Bedstraw

Galium spp., Rubiaceae

Galium aparine L.

Galium odoratum L.

Galium verum L.

OTHER NAMES

Cleavers, goose grass, Mary’s bundle, our dear lady’s bedstraw, sweet woodruff, true bedstraw, woodruff

In the folk tradition, a number of other starlike flowers and plants are associated with Christmas events. One is bedstraw, also known as woodruff. From the Christian vernacular come the unusual names “our dear lady’s bedstraw” and “Mary’s bundle” for bedstraw (Galium verum) (Söhns 1920, 38ff). Behind this changeable name and its association with Mary and Christ’s birth is an old custom of the Germanic pagans. The practice was to put a bundle of bedstraw in a pregnant woman’s bed to help ensure a good birth and a plentiful flow of milk. The plant was originally holy to the love goddess Freia, protector of fertility, marriage, and love. In 734 CE, when the Council of Leptinae put the Christian curse on such heathen customs, the associations survived under new auspices. The former pagan heathens, now recently sanctified Christians, justified their old customs by connecting them with the birth of Jesus.