The traditional New Year's Eve midnight countdown at Madrid's Puerta del Sol has 12 main clock strikes.
The strikes are known as the campanadas de medianoche, or midnight chimes. People in Spain commonly eat one grape with each of the 12 strokes, linking the clock ceremony to the twelve grapes of luck. Television broadcasts from the clock at Puerta del Sol make the sequence familiar across the country.
The event includes a preliminary set of sounds called the cuartos, or quarter chimes, before the actual 12 strokes. Confusing those warning sounds with the main chimes can make the sequence seem longer. The grapes begin with the main midnight strikes, not the preliminary quarter chimes.
Puerta del Sol is a central square in Madrid and a major symbolic gathering place. The ceremony is therefore both a public event at the square and a broadcast ritual followed by people celebrating in homes throughout Spain.