The traditional Spanish New Year's Eve custom in Madrid's Puerta del Sol is eating twelve grapes at midnight.
People try to eat one grape with each of the twelve clock chimes. The grapes represent the twelve months of the coming year, and successfully eating them in time is widely associated with good luck and prosperity. Television broadcasts of the clock at Puerta del Sol help make the ritual familiar throughout Spain.
The custom became especially popular in the early twentieth century. A commonly repeated explanation links its spread to grape growers who had a surplus harvest, although the practice also developed from older elite New Year's customs involving fruit and celebrations.
The ritual is sometimes called las doce uvas de la suerte, or “the twelve grapes of luck.” The exact timing can be challenging because the initial warning sounds before the twelve main chimes are not counted as grapes. Similar grape-eating traditions have also spread to several Spanish-speaking countries.