All Saints Day is just around the corner, which means that Advent isn't far behind - yikes! Have you started thinking about how to celebrate all the wonderful feasts during Advent? Not to mention Advent itself, as well as the Octave of Christmas?We are planning to continue our family favorites (which I will post more about during Advent for those who are new around here), and are also planning to try a little something new this year - the old Polish Christmas tradition of oplatki.
This tradition of Christmas wafers is both seasonal and Eucharistic:
The significance of the Oplatki Christmas wafer is in that it shadows the Eucharistic meal that Catholics participate in at each Mass. Just as we share in the Eucharist as one family in Christ and receive Christ’s love through the Eucharist, the Oplatki allows for one’s immediate family to come together and share the love they have for one another [in celebration of the birth of Christ].My maternal grandfather's side of the family is actually Polish, but those rich traditions were swallowed up by the louder and more vocal Irish family members, so this seems like a nice way to pay tribute to those family roots, as well as introduce something fun into our Christmas Eve traditions.
Our plan is to say a prayer of thanksgiving for the birth of Jesus and share the "Christmas Snack" before we go to Midnight Mass - its the Catho-holic version of milk and cookies for St. Nicholas!
And, an extra special and sweet part of this tradition is the pink wafer:
...even the family pets can partake in this meal. Whereas the wafers are generally white in color, there are colored Oplatki made especially for pets (although both colors are edible by people). Traditionally, this corresponds to the animals that were present at Christ’s birth.Nothing says Catholic Crunch like including a little St. Francis love of all God's creatures in your domestic church's liturgical celebrations!
If you too would like to try this old (but new to you!) tradition or connect with your own Polish heritage, you can order some at the Catholic Company - just make sure to leave enough time to get them before Christmas!
And now, back to your regularly scheduled Ordinary Time - Happy Feast of St. Luke!
I read that it's six weeks to Advent! Whoa. Looking forward to reading about your Advent plans - I'm not too good at living the Liturgical year just yet, but I have high hopes. :>)
ReplyDeleteWe totally do this Polish tradition every year...we incorporate it into a Polish-American (more American than Polish but we do have pierogis!)dinner we have on Christmas eve...its very beautiful and I'm glad my dad's family (he's 100 percent Polish unlike the mutt I am) passed this tradition down. We always read the prayer on the envelope the wafer comes in and then do some of the traditions (look for the first star before we eat, set a place for the unknown guest, etc). Its very special...looking forward to your Advent posts!
ReplyDeletethanks ladies! any requests for posts? i mostly am planning to recycle last years - mostly because that is this year's plan!
ReplyDeletehopefully, last years "get the tree and light it" on Immaculate Conception will be continued and not a fluke thing from last year, with a decorate on Gaudete Sunday. i really love how that worked out last advent.
st nicholas day continues, johnny's feast day, we have cinnamon buns planned for st. lucy's day and now the oplatki to add to christmas eve.
oh and the jesse tree - johnny REALLY liked that last year. lenetta - your daughter might too (and so would jimmy, kira) - for the ornaments we didn't already have, i just cut out circles and drew soemthing and john colored them. then, each day, we sang a verse of "o come, o come emmanuel", read the bible v erse and hung the ornament. simple, quick, easy and fun!
i need something for OLOG and maybe one or two more things (small!)
kira - i love your traditions, they sound so much fun!
and lenetta - i'm not terribly "good" at either, i just like having reasons to celebrate! :)