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No matter how you spell or pronounce it -- "oplatek," "oplatkey" or "oplatki" -- one Slavic tradition remains the same for the holiday season.

The oplatki is a large, thin wafer, similar to an oversized communion wafer. It typically features a picture of the Nativity scene or some other symbol of the Christmas season. It is broken at a family's Christmas Eve supper so that it can be passed around and shared with friends and family.

Many parishes around the Albany Diocese make the wafers available for their parishioners each Christmas to bring home and break with their families.

Mary Pradelski, the secretary at Holy Trinity parish in Johnstown, is of Polish ancestry. She said that her family has the traditional wafer during a holiday meal that consists of seven foods, each of which represent a different aspect of the season.

For example, "apples are used to represent the harvest," she said. "Garlic kept the vampires away.

Breaking bread
"It's a busy holiday season," Mrs. Pradelski noted. "It's a nice family gathering. It's more or less a breaking of bread with your family and friends."

Although everyone has slightly different traditions, the idea of sharing the oplatki with a loved one is universal among families of Slavic ancestry.

Speaking from St. Stanislaus parish in Amsterdam, Deacon Michael Ryba said his family uses the tradition to move past all of the hardships of the year. The deacon, also of Polish ancestry, handles finances and administration for all four Amsterdam-area parishes: St. Stanislaus, St. Mary's and St. Joseph's/St. Michael's/Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Amsterdam and St. Stephen's in Hagaman.

Breaking and passing around the oplatki is "a very emotional thing. A lot of things happen with family each year," he told The Evangelist, and the tradition helps rekindle and spread familial love. "It wishes people love, peace and forgiveness."

In Slavic tradition, there is an empty seat at the table during Christmas Eve supper; the oplatki is usually placed in that spot, welcoming anyone to the table.

Try tradition
Donald Penta, sacristan at St. Joseph's parish in Schenectady, spent 25 years sharing oplatki when he served at the city's Holy Cross parish (now closed). He enjoys spreading the tradition to parishioners at St. Joseph's; he told The Evangelist that it's one of his favorite parts of the Christmas holiday.

Parishioners look forward to getting the oplatki, he said. St. Joseph's isn't a predominantly Polish community, so it's fun to introduce the traditional wafer to new families.

For Danuta Turoska, secretary at St. Michael's in Cohoes, the tradition makes her remember growing up in Poland.

"It's a tradition to show love, peace, giving," she said, that's always been a part of her own holiday celebration.

Christmas Eve
St. Michael's breaks the oplatki after Mass, in addition to sending wafers home for parishioners like Ms. Turoska.

"It's a beautiful thing. You come up to the stranger and you wish them the best," she said.

"It's one of those things that we, as the Polish people, keep. It's tradition. Nothing says in the Bible that you have to do it, but it is our tradition. It's like pierogi and cabbage. We just do it, always have."

Ms. Turoska remembered that, as a child in Poland, her family would wait to begin supper on Christmas Eve until they saw the first star in the night sky. Only then would they break the oplatki, wish each other the best and then begin eating their meatless meal.

"Then, of course, we went to midnight Mass," she said, noting that she has kept these traditions alive in her own family.[[In-content Ad]]

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