At Madrid’s Puerta del Sol celebration, people traditionally eat 12 grapes at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
The grapes are eaten with the twelve clock chimes of the Real Casa de Correos clock. Each grape represents one month of the coming year, and finishing them in time is popularly associated with good fortune.
This custom is known in Spain as las doce uvas de la suerte, or “the twelve grapes of luck.” Families across Spain often follow the broadcast of the Puerta del Sol clock, making the ritual a national shared moment rather than only a Madrid street tradition.
The practice is sometimes linked to a surplus grape harvest in the early twentieth century, when growers promoted grapes as a festive New Year food. The exact origin is debated, but the twelve-chime ritual is firmly established.