Wafer
A wafer is a crisp, often sweet, very thin, flat, and dry biscuit, often used to decorate ice cream. Wafers can also be made into cookies with cream flavouring sandwiched between them. They frequently have a waffle surface pattern but may also be patterned with insignia of the food's manufacturer or may be patternless. Many chocolate bars, such as Kit Kat and Toffee Crisp, have wafers in them.
The word also refers to the special small round, often starchy flatbreads made for Western Rite celebrations of the Eucharist, including Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and some of the more liturgical Protestant churches. The word Host is used to describe the larger wafer used by the clergy, while the term, "communion wafer" refers to the smaller pieces used to distribute Holy Communion to the people. These holy wafers often have an image of a cross or the crucified Christ imprinted on them.
Special "spa wafers" (Czech: lázeňské oplatky, Slovak: kúpeľné oplátky) are produced in the spa towns of the Czech Republic (e.g. Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně, etc.) and the Slovak Republic (e.g. Piešťany, etc.).
Christmas wafers, whose patterns often depict religious scenes, are an Eastern European Roman Catholic Christmas tradition celebrated in Polish, Slovak, Lithuanian and Italian families during Wigilia (Christmas Eve Vigil).