Oplatek: Polish Tradition

In eastern and central European countries (particularly Poland), "oplatek" is a Catholic tradition practiced at Christmas time. Oplatek (pronounced "oh-pwa-teck" is a wafer, always made of wheat flour and water. It looks like a Catholic communion wafer but it is embossed with scenes from the Bible, usually nativity scenes. People started the oplatek tradition because they wanted to have something like communion (the body of Christ) to share in their homes on Christmas eve. While oplatek wafers look a lot like communion wafers, they aren't blessed in the same way as communion wafers, so anybody can offer or eat them (not just Catholics and not just during Mass).

On Christmas eve, during dinner, people have two members of the family break off a piece of the wafer and offer each other good wishes usually related to good health or good luck. They start their supper with the wafer, breaking it and wishing another person good luck.

Many Catholic churches in the United States provide the congregation with oplatek wafers to take home and enjoy for Christmas. Today was the fourth and final Sunday of Advent (the waiting period before Christmas) and our church distributed them at the end of Mass.

There are so many Christmas traditions that different Christian denominations have. Some religions that do acknowledge Jesus do not celebrate Christmas at all. One religion that we will be learning about next week is Jehovah's Witnesses. We will interview a woman who is a practicing Jehovah's Witness. We have heard very little about their beliefs up until now but we have heard that Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas and we are interested in learning more about the beliefs of this religion. We will be sharing what we learn on this blog. If you have any questions you'd like us to ask, please let us know!