The traditional Filipino New Year’s Eve midnight feast featuring twelve round fruits is called Media Noche.
Media Noche is a Filipino family feast held at midnight on New Year’s Eve. The name is Spanish for “midnight,” and the meal marks the transition from 31 December to 1 January. Families commonly gather around a table with special foods and symbolic items.
Twelve round fruits are often displayed or served, with the shape associated with coins and prosperity. The twelve fruits may represent the twelve months of the coming year. Exact fruit choices vary, and the custom is not a single legally or religiously fixed menu.
Other Filipino New Year customs include making noise at midnight, wearing polka dots, and serving sticky foods. These practices are often interpreted as encouraging prosperity, continuity, or the driving away of bad luck. Media Noche is distinct from Noche Buena, the Christmas Eve feast celebrated on 24 December.