According to legend, a young girl visited the Christ child in Bethlehem. She found herself in a situation similar to the Little Drummer Boy. She had no gift to bring...rumpa-pum-pum. She wept and her tears shed at the foot of the manger nurtured dormant seeds which sprouted and burst into bloom a couple of months later. Rumor has it that Alexander the Great died of Hellebore overdose when he took it as a medication to purge lingering miasma. Also, the Greek army poisoned the water supply of an entire city with Helebore juice. A population weakened by diarrhea is easily conquered!
Enough with the rumor mill. Here's the truth as I know it. Every year, around Ash Wednesday, the Lenten Rose (
Helleborus Orientalis) blooms in my backyard. It is truly a thing of beauty because it is the first sign of new life and a promise that things are looking up. Except the blooms, which are facing downward like delicate umbrellas against the spring rains. Don't cry about it; don't eat or drink it! Plant it and enjoy for what it really is...a sign.
