In Spanish New Year tradition, people eat twelve grapes one by one with the midnight clock chimes for luck.
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, and finishing all twelve before the chimes end is traditionally associated with prosperity.
The practice became especially popular in Spain in the early twentieth century. A widely repeated explanation connects its expansion to a large grape surplus in 1909, when growers promoted the custom as a way to sell more fruit, although earlier references show that the tradition had already begun developing in Madrid.
The grapes are often eaten while watching the clock in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol. The custom is also practiced in parts of Latin America, where families may adapt the fruit or timing. It is sometimes confused with eating twelve different foods, but the classic Spanish version specifically uses grapes.