THE OPLATEK for the Polish people is the most important element in the Christmas celebration. It is part of the family rites at the Wigilia supper on Christmas Eve and is used by friends and neighbors at parties and gatherings during the holiday season.
The Oplatek is a small piece of bread-wafer often embossed with religious images of Our Lady and of scenes depicting the birth of Jesus. These designs are usually excellent examples of Polish folk art and are often preserved in Art Museums to show the unusually wide scope of the decorative arts of the Polish peasants.
The word Oplatek is taken from the Latin word "Oblatum" meaning sacred bread. In the past, this holy bread, or Bread of Love as Oplatek is sometimes called, was made with great ceremonies and rites. The choicest wheat was chosen and the workers wore liturgical robes and chanted hymns during the process.
The Oplatek symbolizes days of harmony, when what is to be forgiven is forgiven and what is to be forgotten is forgotten. The sharing of the Oplatek signifies that everyone in the universe is related - we are all God's children - we all have His Divine power.
The Oplatek, that Bread of Love, so frail and perishable, has for all Poles a mystical meaning which cannot be explained. At Christmas time it is even sent to absent members of the family and to close friends separated by distance, to draw them close in a spiritual union with their loved ones. To receive a piece of Oplatek is a special blessing. It says that the recipient is loved in a holy way and that the most choice blessings are prayed over them.
At the Wigilia Supper the rite of sharing and breaking the Oplatek is both simple and moving. The host and hostess first share and break the Bread of Love - the Oplatek - with each other and then with all the members of their family and guests. With the breaking, good wishes, blessings and prayers are exchanged and shared. It is a time of spiritual gift-giving. Sometimes the blessings take the form of spontaneous poetry - but this is often an art form reserved to the old.
A piece of Oplatek is often saved after Christmas to use in time of sickness. It is administered to the ill as a blessing-prayer for healing. It is a strong affirmation of the love of family and friends.
In some parts of Poland and among some Polish-Americans there is the custom of saving a few squares of the Oplatek and of creating religious ornaments with them. Some of them are made into stars and miniature cradles for the Baby Jesus. Others are made into tiny churches and complicated globes - often with a tiny figure of Jesus holding the cross in the inner circle of the world-globes to signify His rule over the universe.
Usually these ornaments were carefully hung by a thread from the ceiling. With the movements in a room it gently swayed to and fro and old timers often prophesied the coming weather from the direction in which these lacy ornaments moved.
Adam Plug remembered these Oplatek ornaments of his Polish childhood and wrote: "When father glued together a fine star enclosing a tiny cradle, he hung it to the ceiling by a thread. I knew for certain this was the same star which shone down upon Jesus in the manger. I rocked the little cradle on the thread with my childish breath, and really felt I was rocking the real little baby Jesus to sleep, singing Him a kolenda."
No comments:
Post a Comment