People in Spain traditionally eat twelve grapes at midnight for good luck in the New Year.
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 on December 31. Each grape is associated with one month of the coming year, and successfully eating all twelve is linked with prosperity or good fortune.
The nationwide ritual became strongly associated with the clock at Madrid's Puerta del Sol, whose chimes are broadcast to homes across Spain. Families often prepare peeled or seedless grapes because the timing can be difficult.
A popular story says grape growers promoted the custom after a large harvest, but the practice has documented roots in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Madrid. The tradition is now also observed in parts of Latin America, though local details differ. The grapes are eaten at midnight; they are not a substitute for the earlier warning chimes.