The history of cuchumbo can be traced in dictionaries, not in exact dates. Its most widespread meanings are everyday objects in Central America.
The gift-exchange meaning belongs to Honduras. Below are the three steps: the objects, the game and the online version.
How the word changed
First, the objects
According to the Diccionario de americanismos, published by the Association of Spanish Language Academies, a cuchumbo is the cup used to throw dice in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras, and by extension the dice game.
It is also a hollowed-out gourd: for carrying water in Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua, and for keeping tortillas in Guatemala.
Then, the gift exchange
The same dictionary records a meaning found only in Honduras: a gift exchange among friends or coworkers, with names drawn beforehand.
There is no record of when the word started being used this way. The link to the dice cup is clear, though: in both cases something gets mixed up and each person takes what comes out, without choosing.
The December cuchumbo
In Honduras, offices, families and groups of friends hold a cuchumbo, nearly always in December. El Salvador plays it at the same time of year.
Elsewhere in Latin America the same game goes by other names: amigo secreto, amigo invisible, intercambio.
From paper slips to a link
For years the draw was done with paper slips in a bag or a bowl. It works, but it has well-known problems: someone draws their own name, a slip gets lost, the draw has to be redone with everyone present, or someone who couldn't come gets left out.
An online draw fixes that: each person opens their result from a link, whenever they can, and nobody else sees it.
Paper slips or online?
If your group can't decide between paper slips and an online draw, think about who won't be there on the day of the draw.
With slips, that person depends on someone drawing for them; online, they open their result on their phone whenever they like.
If you like the paper ritual, run the draw online and still get together for the gift day.
The draw, without paper slips
Create the exchange, type in the names and Cuchumbo runs the draw. It's free, no account is needed, and each person sees only the name they drew.
