At Christmas parties it is very common to see baskets everywhere full of sweets, food, panettone, wine, sausages, among all products. These are usually delivered mostly by companies or some organizations or businesses that raffle it before December 24. However, little is known about its origin.
To do this we must go back several years, when the Roman Empire held its renowned Saturnalia, which in those times were celebrations that took place a week before December 25. At these festivals, the Roman population, masters and slaves, united in a single cause as a gesture of kindness to honor the god Saturn.
The bosses, as a sign of gratitude for the year-round work of the slaves, gave away food, which was what their families needed the most in those years. Since then and over the years, this custom has been adapted to different countries of the world.
baskets in the countries
This Roman custom was adapted in many countries of the world, but each one added certain customs or typical products. For example, in Italy it is customary for the Christmas basket to have a sweet called “pandoro”. A liquor is also a must, especially a wine and particularly the white one.
On the other hand, and continuing with Europe, in Spain the baskets have other products and are called “Christmas lots”. These usually include seasonal sweets such as nougats or polvorones, as well as sausages, such as pate. Of course, alcoholic beverages, such as wine or champagne, cannot be missing.
If we see the Latin American baskets, in Mexico, we will notice that these are not only given to employees, but also to the family. Here, it is not uncommon to include sausages as part of the basket and, as in other countries, also a liquor.
