What is the name of the 12-grape New Year's Eve custom practiced in Spain?
Answer
Las doce uvas de la suerte
The 12-grape New Year's Eve custom practiced in Spain is called las doce uvas de la suerte.
The Spanish phrase translates as “the twelve grapes of luck.” At midnight, participants eat one grape with each of the 12 clock chimes. The sequence is connected with the 12 months of the coming year, and completing it is traditionally associated with prosperity or good fortune.
The custom is strongly linked with the clock in Madrid's Puerta del Sol. Television and radio broadcasts help synchronize celebrations across Spain, while families often place exactly 12 grapes in individual cups or containers before the chimes begin.
Popular accounts connect the custom's growth to grape producers promoting an abundant harvest in the early 1900s. However, evidence also points to earlier upper-class New Year's grape-eating practices, so the full origin is more complicated than a single advertising campaign. The established name refers to luck, not merely to a meal or a countdown.