What is the name of the Spanish New Year's Eve custom of eating 12 grapes at midnight?

The Spanish New Year’s Eve custom of eating 12 grapes at midnight is called Las doce uvas de la suerte, meaning “the twelve grapes of luck.”

Participants try to eat one grape with each stroke of the midnight clock. Each grape represents one month of the coming year, and successfully finishing all 12 is associated with good fortune. The custom is especially linked with the clock at Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, whose chimes are broadcast across Spain.

The tradition became widely popular in the early twentieth century. One frequently cited explanation connects its spread with a surplus grape harvest, although the practice also appeared in earlier upper-class celebrations and newspaper accounts.

The grapes are not eaten at the first warning sounds from the clock. They are timed to the twelve principal midnight chimes, a detail that can cause confusion for people unfamiliar with the broadcast sequence.