Wafer rolls: the crispy treat that makes Christmas

PalmThe wafer rolls hung from the ceiling like cascading snowflakes. Driven by time, they danced slowly, turning in different directions, now one, then the other. Year after year, we enriched the collection. With our parents' help, we made circles, then folded them and trimmed the edges and points. We always tried to make complicated shapes because we wanted to know what picture would appear when we unfolded the paper. However, the simplest ones were the prettiest and most complete. No tree, no baubles, no Santa Clauses—only the nativity scene and the wafer rolls kept us company until Saint Anthony passed by. Now the old ones coexist with the new ones, openwork wafer rolls that my father makes with great skill and patience.

Wafer rolls are one of the most emblematic decorative elements of Christmas celebrations in Mallorca. This tradition, of medieval origin, is already documented in the Crown of Aragon from the 13th century onwards, which is when it is speculated that they arrived here. At that time, they were not only used as a Christmas decoration, but also served other important purposes. In churches, both flour wafers and paper wafers were found, the latter being either white or colored. It seems that the paper ones, especially the colored ones, were used more in Catalonia than in Mallorca, where the white flour wafers were more traditional.

The Tradition of Wafer Rolls

According to scholar Tomàs Martínez, the transition from flour wafers to paper wafers used to decorate churches in Mallorca is not documented and likely did not occur suddenly. The wafers were hung in churches on the fourth Sunday of Advent and marked the time remaining until Lent. The larger wafers represented the weeks, and the smaller ones the days. Each day, a wafer was removed, allowing parishioners to know how much time remained until the season of abstinence. Another tradition associated with the wafers took place after the Sibyl's song, when she would cut the wafers with her sword, like the stars that would fall at the Last Judgment. The falling wafers were joyfully gathered by the children, who ate them right there.

In Catalan and Mallorcan popular culture, wafers are a traditional Christmas treat, as the saying "Everything in its time, and at Christmas, wafers" reminds us. The origin of this sweet treat can be traced back to medieval convent documents, when wafers were consumed during festivities, not just Christmas. They were eaten in noble and religious settings, dipped in paprika or clarea, an aromatic wine made with sugar or honey and spices. Documents from the 13th century already attest to their presence: in 1267, at his Christmas banquet, King James I offered his more than one hundred guests wafers, pine nuts, and almonds as dessert. Medieval wafers were flat and very thin, although Francesc Eiximenis states that they should be thick and sugared. Tradition attributes the idea of rolling them to a nun, a technique that convents and pastry shops perfected over time. From the 17th century onwards, the cylindrical shape became established and the product became popular as a Christmas sweet, where it shares the spotlight with nougat. Mosén Antoni Maria Alcover describes in Their slaughters and their Christmas celebrations The homemade preparation of wafers in the kitchens of the estates became a family tradition. At the same time, it was common to find street vendors selling wafers in squares and promenades, who offered wafers of various shapes and cooked them with a charcoal stove and a wafer mold (a spindle-shaped iron mold). There were flat or white wafers, which were eaten plain or with wafer nougat, and sugared wafers, made with sugar and flavorings such as cinnamon or lemon peel. One of the earliest wafer recipes is found in the so-called "plaqueta h," attributed to Friar Jaume Martí Oliver. This recipe calls for one almud (approximately 1.5 kg) of finely ground hay, two pounds of sifted and strained sugar, four eggs, chopped cinnamon, the peel of a ripe lemon, and a tablespoon of oil. For today's recipe, I've followed a simpler but equally effective, crispy, and delicious version.