In Spain, people traditionally eat twelve grapes at midnight on New Year's Eve.
The custom is known as las doce uvas de la suerte, or “the twelve grapes of luck.” Each grape is eaten with one of the clock's twelve midnight chimes. Finishing the sequence is traditionally associated with bringing good fortune for the twelve months ahead.
The practice became widely popular in the early twentieth century. A frequently repeated story links its spread to grape growers who had a surplus harvest, although the custom also appeared in Madrid newspapers before that explanation became common. Spaniards often follow the chimes from the clock at Madrid's Puerta del Sol, whose New Year's broadcast is nationally famous. The grapes are not twelve different varieties; they are simply twelve grapes eaten in time with the bells.