People in Spain traditionally eat twelve grapes at midnight 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 of the twelve midnight chimes. The grapes symbolize the twelve months ahead, and successfully eating them is popularly associated with good fortune and prosperity.
The tradition became especially widespread in the early twentieth century. A frequently repeated account links its popularity to grape growers who promoted the practice after a particularly large harvest, although earlier references to eating grapes at New Year already existed in Madrid. The televised chimes from Madrid’s Puerta del Sol help coordinate the custom across Spain.
The timing can be difficult because the preliminary sounds before the actual twelve chimes are not part of the grape sequence. Similar grape-eating customs are now practiced in several Spanish-speaking countries, but Spain remains the tradition’s best-known home.