What is the Spanish New Year's Eve tradition of eating at midnight?

The Spanish New Year's Eve tradition is to eat twelve grapes at midnight.

Known as las doce uvas de la suerte, or “the twelve grapes of luck,” the custom calls for eating one grape with each stroke of the midnight clock. Each grape represents one month of the coming year, so finishing them is associated with twelve months of good fortune.

The practice is strongly linked to the clock at Madrid's Puerta del Sol, whose chimes are broadcast nationally. Many families prepare peeled or seedless grapes in advance because the chimes arrive quickly. Television broadcasts often show the clock and guide viewers through the sequence.

The tradition is commonly connected with a surplus grape harvest in the early twentieth century, when growers and sellers promoted grapes as a festive New Year's product. The exact origin story is sometimes simplified, but the custom was established in Spain by the early 1900s. Similar grape-eating traditions later appeared in parts of Latin America.