In Spain, people traditionally eat 12 grapes, one with each midnight chime, on New Year's Eve.
The custom is known as las doce uvas de la suerte, or “the twelve grapes of luck.” Each grape represents one month of the coming year. Completing the sequence before the chimes finish is popularly associated with good fortune, while the fast pace makes the ritual both festive and challenging.
The tradition became firmly established in Spain during the early twentieth century. One often-cited explanation links its spread to grape growers who promoted the custom after a large harvest, although the practice also developed through earlier urban celebrations. Spanish television broadcasts the clock chimes from Madrid's Puerta del Sol, making the timing familiar nationwide.
The grapes are eaten with the clock's main midnight strokes, not with every preliminary sound. Similar grape-eating traditions have also spread to parts of Latin America, where local customs and timing can differ.