In Spain, what does eating 12 grapes at midnight on New Year's Eve traditionally represent?

In Spain, eating 12 grapes at midnight on New Year's Eve traditionally represents good luck for the coming year.

The custom is known as las doce uvas de la suerte, or “the twelve grapes of luck.” People try to eat one grape with each stroke of the clock at midnight. Each grape is associated with one month of the year ahead, and finishing all 12 is traditionally thought to bring prosperity and good fortune.

The best-known public countdown takes place at Madrid's Puerta del Sol, whose clock is broadcast across Spain. The tradition is often linked to a large grape surplus in the early 20th century, although grape-eating at New Year had already appeared among some urban Spaniards before the surplus helped popularize it.

The grapes are not a formal religious requirement, and families may adapt the custom with peeled or seedless fruit. The closely timed clock chimes are central: the grapes are eaten during the 12 main strokes, not during the brief warning sounds before midnight.