In Spain, people traditionally eat twelve grapes with the twelve clock strikes at midnight on New Year's Eve.
Known as the twelve grapes of luck, the custom assigns one grape to each chime. Finishing all twelve in time is popularly associated with good fortune for the twelve months ahead. Families and friends often prepare the grapes in advance because the rapid sequence can be difficult to follow.
The best-known national countdown takes place at Madrid's Puerta del Sol, where the clock's midnight chimes are broadcast across Spain. The ceremony is watched on television by millions, and the square serves as a symbolic center of the celebration.
The custom is often said to have been promoted by grape growers after a surplus harvest in the early twentieth century, although the practice may have developed from earlier urban traditions. The important established feature is the pairing of twelve grapes with twelve midnight chimes.