In Spain's New Year's Eve tradition, people eat twelve grapes with the midnight clock chimes for good luck.
The custom is known as the twelve grapes, or las doce uvas de la suerte. Participants try to eat one grape at each of the twelve chimes marking midnight on December 31. The grapes are associated with good fortune for the twelve months of the coming year.
Spain's most famous public countdown takes place at Madrid's Puerta del Sol, whose clock chimes are broadcast nationally. Families and friends often prepare small portions of grapes in advance because eating all twelve quickly can be difficult.
The tradition is sometimes attributed to a surplus grape harvest in Spain in the early twentieth century, although historians also discuss earlier elite and urban precedents. It has spread beyond Spain, especially in parts of Latin America, where related New Year's customs are practiced.