In Spain’s New Year’s Eve tradition, people eat twelve grapes, one at each midnight chime.
The custom is known as the twelve grapes of luck, or las doce uvas de la suerte. Each grape represents one month of the coming year, and finishing all twelve in time is traditionally associated with good fortune and prosperity.
Many people follow the chimes broadcast from Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, a famous public square whose clock is strongly associated with the national countdown. Families and friends often prepare twelve grapes in advance because the chimes arrive in quick succession.
The tradition is sometimes linked to a large grape harvest and promotional efforts in Spain in the early twentieth century, although accounts differ on how the custom began. It should not be confused with Greek New Year customs involving a pomegranate, which is broken rather than eaten grape by grape.