In Spain, people traditionally eat twelve grapes at midnight for good luck in the new year.
The custom is known as las doce uvas de la suerte, or “the twelve grapes of luck.” Participants try to eat one grape with each stroke of the midnight clock. Each grape represents one month of the coming year, so finishing all twelve is associated with prosperity and good fortune.
The ritual became especially popular in the early twentieth century. A frequently cited explanation connects its spread with a surplus grape harvest in the Alicante area in 1909, although the custom had earlier precedents in Madrid and elsewhere. The exact commercial origin is therefore often simplified in popular retellings.
People commonly confuse the twelve grapes with the twelve clock chimes themselves: the grapes are the food, while the chimes provide the timing. Spanish television broadcasts make the Madrid clock at Puerta del Sol a major national focus.