People traditionally eat grapes at midnight in Spain, one for each of the year's 12 months.
The custom is known as las doce uvas de la suerte, or “the twelve grapes of luck.” Participants try to eat one grape with each of the twelve clock chimes at midnight. Completing the sequence is popularly associated with good fortune for the coming year.
The tradition became strongly linked with the clock at Madrid's Puerta del Sol, whose midnight chimes are broadcast nationally. Television coverage has helped spread the ritual throughout Spain and among Spanish-speaking communities elsewhere.
The grapes are usually prepared in advance because eating twelve of them quickly can be difficult, especially when following the chimes. The custom is separate from the later celebratory toast, which is often made with sparkling wine. The number twelve connects the fruit to the twelve months rather than to twelve separate wishes in every version of the tradition.