Christmas is right around the corner and we are getting ready to celebrate our Polish/Lithuanian Oplatek Christmas Tradition!
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The best part about Christmas for me is being with family. The traditions that we celebrate are what bring us together and are some of my fondest Christmas memories.
When I was a little girl one of my favorite Christmas traditions was the big open house party that we would throw on Christmas night. The entire family would come as well as friends from near and far.
The kids would congregate in the basement to play games. It wasn’t a fancy finished basement and there wasn’t any heat. We did have a pool table and ping pong table though. That was all we needed to have fun.
The men would celebrate a toast in the kitchen while the ladies gathered around the piano in the dining room. Frank would play every Christmas song he knew as the ladies sang along.
When I run into old friends today they always reminisce about those Christmas parties and all the fun we had.
Another one of my favorite Christmas traditions is our Polish/Lithuanian Oplatek Christmas Tradition. It’s the one Christmas tradition that we have celebrated as long as I can remember.
Oplatek (pronounced Opwatek) is a thin unleavened wafer similar to the host that you get at church. The wafers are usually embossed with religious images. The tradition is to “break bread” with your family and wish each other something nice. (Click here for the history)
We always started with the head of the household which when I was little was my grandfather. He would break a piece of the Oplatek off and then pass it to my grandmother and wish her something nice. Then it would continue around the table with everyone wishing each other kind wishes until it got back to my grandfather.
It’s one of my favorite Christmas traditions today because when we celebrate it, it’s like my grandfather and grandmother are right here with us. It’s also a wonderful way to Celebrate my Heritage.
The most special part about our Oplatek Christmas Tradition this year is that the Oplatek that we will be celebrating with came from our family in Lithuania!
Every year my mom sends a Christmas care package to them and they send one to us! We always look forward to see what goodies will come each year. It usually always includes Oplatek so when we celebrate our tradition it’s like they are with us too!
Do you celebrate the Oplatek Christmas Tradition? I’d love to hear about how you celebrate it. Leave me a comment below!
If you would like to start your own Oplatek Christmas Tradition and don’t know where to get your Oplatek you can actually order it right on Amazon! Here’s the link to one of the packages that we’ve bought in the past.
To help you start your Oplatek Christmas Tradition this is my wish for you. I wish you a very Merry Christmas, good health and a joyous New Year!
Here are some of our favorite Polish and Lithuanian foods to make from my Celebrating Our Heritage Series!
So nice that you shared this wonderful age old tradition on your blog that we do each year as we gather together at the Christmas table. And yes somehow it brings those no longer with us or who are far away together as we celebrate this holy, joyous and special day that God in His great love has given to us. Thanks for sharing it.
In my Polish\Slovak family we have a fasting 5 course Polish Christmas Eve dinner. We start with the oplatek. The eldest member of the family at dinner starts with the oplatek offering their piece to each person at the table until it makes it way back to the eldest. Dinner starts with mushroom soup, then a fish course, usually baked, then on to pierogis, cabage, potato/cheese, and lekvar filled, next is haluska, made with small potato dumplings and fried sweet cabbage. Desert is usually nut or poppyseed rolls. After all of that, you are filed up beyond full. Take a little rest and then off to midnight mass. Even now that it is just my husband and me, I still make all the same food. It does make you feel like all of those that have gone before, are still with us.
Love this! Thanks for sharing your family’s tradition Katherine. I love how traditions help keep lost loved ones close to our hearts.
I purchased oplatek for friends this Christmas and have several left. Can they be wrapped in freezer bags and frozen until next year?
I’ve never tried it before Bonnie. Not sure if it would be soggy once it thawed or not.