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December 23, 2007

Vesele Vianoce and enjoy your Christmas Eve feast

I know a lot of folks around here are very familiar with the Italian Christmas Eve tradition of the feast of the seven fishes.

But how many of you have taken part in the Slovak meatless Christmas Eve feast?

My husband's sister married a wonderful man of Slovak descent, and because of Rege and his family, we've been able to take part in many such special meals at their home in North Huntingdon, Pa., outside of Pittsburgh.

The Slovak words for Christmas Eve are “bountiful eve” and the bounty of this evening lies in the wide range of festive dishes. The traditional meal for Christmas Eve is meatless in the Slovak Republic.

The meal begins with the “oplatky” or unleavened wafers imprinted with scenes of the holy birth. Coming from the Latin, “oblata” (offering), these wafers are common to Slavs living in the Tatra Mountains. The “oplatky” are eaten with honey (to be good and healthy as the bees are) and reminded the family of the unleavened bread of the Passover supper of the Israelites. The Sabols, (Rege's family) also use maple syrup -- which is a little touch of New England in Pittsburgh!

Following the “oplatky”, a soup of tart quality, usually made of sauerkraut brine and dried mushrooms, continues the exodus theme of recalling the bitterness of slavery; life without Christ. The Sabols often serve mushroom soup with the more traditional brine.

Pieroghies are my favorite part of the Christmas Eve supper. They are dough pockets, pastry filled with fillings of sweet cabbage, sauerkraut, lekvar, (prune butter) or potatoes and cheese and boiled.

The family also serves haluski, which is twisted noodles of dough mixed in with sauerkraut.

For dessert, we always have lots of Christmas cookies, and wine is also served with the meal.

And I even learned how to say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year by looking up these traditions on the Internet:

“Vesele Vianoce a Stastlivy Novy Rok.”

Posted by Pam Cotter  at 7:29 PM to Christmas 2007 | Permalink

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