opłatek

plural opłateks

1. alternativeAlternative form of oplatek.

   But Mother enclosed in one letter an opłatek—the thin white wafer traditionally shared by all at the beginning of the Christmas Eve dinner. We took it to be a clear message from her: stay in Romania, at least through Christmas.

   2007, Jerzy Główczewski, translated by Danuta Waydenfeld and Stefan Waydenfeld, “The Odyssey Begins”, in The Accidental Immigrant: A Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Xlibris, →ISBN, part 1 (Unruly Boy, War Exile, Desert Soldier, Fighter Pilot), page 31

   2 more examples

   Before sitting down, an opłatek—a special wafer symbolizing the Christian child—was broken and shared, while family members, starting with the father and mother, would exchange good wishes for the new year. Family members would sometimes send a piece of their opłatek to ones who were far away, as a symbol that they were breaking the wafer together even though separated by war or a repressive political system. (The opłatek ritual persists among Poles in Chicago, where the wafers are sold in Polish stores.)

   2008, Cynthia Grant Bowman, “Origins”, in Beyond the Uprising: A Polish Girl’s Journey, [Philadelphia, Pa.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 12

   The meal has a number of traditional courses, beginning with opłatek, a small blessed wafer made from flour and water. Each family member holds their wafer and gives each person at the table a well wish for the next year, breaking a piece off of each person’s wafer and sharing among the table. “We’re going to make people do the opłatek thing,” says Lasky. “It will be good icebreaker for a family-style dinner.”

   2018 December 5, Celine Roberts, “Apteka and Whitfield Team Up for a Vegan Christmas Meal”, in Pittsburgh Magazine, Pittsburgh, Pa., archived from the original on 28 Sep 2022