In the Czech Republic, traditional Christmas wafers served with honey are called oplatky.
Oplatky are thin, usually round wafers made from a simple batter of wheat flour and water. In Czech Christmas customs, they may be served at the beginning of Christmas Eve dinner, when a family member spreads honey over them and shares them with everyone at the table. The honey symbolizes sweetness, goodwill, or hopes for a harmonious year.
The tradition is related to Central European wafer customs and to the use of unleavened wafers in Christian worship, although Christmas oplatky are not sacramental communion wafers. Some Czech wafers are embossed with religious or decorative designs, and regional practices may add garlic or other ingredients to the honey.
Oplatky can cause confusion because the same word also appears in names for Czech spa wafers, including the famous Karlovy Vary variety. Those commercial wafers are often larger, sweeter, and filled, whereas Christmas oplatky are generally plain, delicate wafers eaten as part of a family ritual. The related Polish opłatek tradition is similar but is especially associated with exchanging greetings and breaking pieces of wafer.