During Madrid's New Year's Eve celebration, twelve grapes are traditionally eaten with the clock's midnight chimes.
The custom is known in Spain as las doce uvas de la suerte, or “the twelve grapes of luck.” Revelers try to eat one grape with each of the twelve chimes at midnight. Completing the sequence is popularly associated with good fortune in the coming year.
Madrid's best-known gathering takes place at Puerta del Sol, where people watch the clock on the Real Casa de Correos. The chimes are broadcast throughout Spain, allowing people in homes and public places to follow the same countdown.
The practice is often linked to a surplus grape harvest in the early twentieth century, when growers promoted grapes as a New Year's tradition. The precise origin is debated, and earlier urban customs may have contributed. The grapes represent the twelve months, not the twelve zodiac signs, a distinction sometimes missed in simplified descriptions.