In Spain, people traditionally eat grapes at each of the 12 midnight chimes on New Year's Eve.
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 stroke of the clock at midnight. The twelve grapes represent the twelve months ahead, and successfully eating them is associated with good fortune for the coming year.
The tradition became especially widespread in the early twentieth century. A commonly cited explanation connects its popularity with a surplus grape harvest in 1909, when growers promoted the practice as a way to sell the extra fruit. The custom may have had earlier roots among urban celebrants.
The chimes are often followed through radio or television broadcasts, especially the famous clock at Madrid's Puerta del Sol. The event is sometimes confused with the Spanish custom of eating grapes generally, but the distinctive New Year's ritual is the one-grape-per-chime pattern.