Christmas Gifts and Imports
Op
łatek
(Polish Christmas Wafer)
Keep this beautiful tradition alive in your family! Practice the ancient Polish custom of sharing the Christmas wafer with family and guests. Many people place a piece of opłatek in each Christmas Card they mail. Each Polish Christmas Wafer is embossed with religious scene. Large oplatki come in decorative envelope, with explanation of custom on back.
LARGE OPLATKI (6¼ x 3½ in.)
3 White and 1 Pink wafer in decorative envelope explanation on back
$6.00
Wesołych Świąt / Merry Christmas Stickers
- 1” x 2” self-adhering stickers (shown larger than actual size for clarity) for presents, Christmas cards, postcards, home-made notes, school projects, etc.
- Additional sheets are available for $5.00 each plus $1.00 postage & handling
- 20 stickers to a sheet
- Proceeds benefit Laski School for the Blind (www.laski.edu) and Polish American Journal Press Fund.
- Funds administered by Polish American Journal Foundation.
Handcrafted birchwood egg with beautifully painted designs. No two alike. A wonderful addition to any collection. Made in Poland. Eggs measure approx. 2.25" H x 1.75" D
Made in the United States.
Item 1-1502
3 1/2” high x 3” wide
$5.95 each
Softcover
300 pages, 8.25 x 10.75"
Black and white illustrations
by Alice Wadowski Bak
Music (lead line and chords) with Polish lyrics with English translations
Item 2-648
$26.95
Even of you are not Polish, the celebration of the Christmas season — and especially of Christmas Eve — in this book is a treat. Learn to make folded paper stars, eggnog, and traditional Polish dishes. Learn all about the Wigilia, or Christmas Eve dinner. Read stories and sing carols. Lots of photographs from Poland and Polish America homes.
Four weeks of preparation, called Advent, precede the Christmas season in Poland. This is a time for recollection and for taking stock of one’s direction in life.
The Christmas season begins on December 25th and lasts until February 2nd: forty days set aside to celebrate Christ’s birth. Nativity scenes and Christmas trees grace churches and homes throughout this joyful season.
The high point of the entire year happens on Christmas Eve when families serve an ancient ritual meal, called the Vigil Supper: and intimate evening celebration, Poland’s joyous treasure, a true living heirloom.
The meal begins after a day of fasting, when the youngest child in the family sights the first star in the sky. At the family table under a white tablecloth lies a thin layer of hay as a reminder that Christ was born in a stable. Tradition holds that an even number of places are set at the table, with one reserved for Christ, or any stranger who may be far away from home on this important night.
Before eating, all present share the Christmas wafer, a symbol of familial unity. All hard feelings from the past year are forgotten, all transgessions are forgiven and good wishes for the coming year are exchanged.
The menu is always meatless in the spirit of preparation forthe fullness of Christmas Day.
The customs of the Christmas Eve Vigil Supper anticipate the most joyful family season of the year. The Vigil Supper open the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25th to January 6th), initiating a festive season lasting in Poland, until the Presentation of the Lord among them, recalling the birth of a Child in a barn to parents of little means.
In the words of a Polish carol, Christ came to this earth "In the night’s stillness". A warm embrace welcomes each family member home on Christmas Eve to celebrate in time-honored ritual and tradition of the Vigil Supper, which stills the heart and comforts the anxious spirit. Jesus literally comes home to celebrate the festival of our salvation at the family table.
This book is a quick and easy reference, step-by-step guide and international collection of folklore, stories, recipes, carols and decorations with never before published photos and black and white illustrations, glossary, pronunciation guide, and a regional map of Poland.
SMALL OPLATKI (2¼ x 3½ in.)
Package of 5 wafers, each individually wrapped in glassine envelope
$5.00
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE POLISH CHRISTMAS WAFER TRADITION and other Polish Christmas customs, CLICK HERE.
Wooden Polish Easter Egg (Pisanka) Ornament
A Polish
Christmas Eve
by Rev. Dr. Czeslaw Krysa, S.T.L.,
one of the world’s top scholars on Polish holiday traditions
