As we journey toward Christmas, we anticipate Christmas flowers decorating the sanctuary. We invite you to order a plant in honor or in memory of a loved one whose name will be listed in the Christmas Eve worship folder. Please complete either the digital form or the paper form enclosed in worship folders, beginning November 12th. You may pay online via Vanco or PayPal (indicate Christmas Flowers) or you may mail a check (with Christmas Flowers on the memo line) to the church at 945 G Street NW, Washington, DC, 20001. The cost per plant is $20. All orders must be received by December 10th.
As our antiracism analysis evolves, we are changing the language we have traditionally used around Christmas flowers. The sacred flower typically called “poinsettia,” is native to Mexico, where it is called the Cuetlaxochitl flower. The name “poinsettia” comes from Joel Poinsett, who brought the flower from Mexico to the United States. Poinsett was a slaveholder responsible for the displacement of indigenous people forcibly removed from their native lands. The Cuetlaxochitl flower was used ceremonially during the winter solstice, for healing and medicinal purposes, to aid the flow of breastmilk, and to dye fabrics. It is pronounced: Kwe-tla-so-cheetl and is also now known in Mexico and Guatemala as flor de nochebuena (Christmas Eve flower) and in Chile and Peru as the “crown of the Andes.”