The traditional Spanish New Year's Eve custom is eating 12 grapes at midnight.
Known as las doce uvas de la suerte, or “the twelve grapes of luck,” the ritual calls for one grape with each stroke of the clock at midnight on December 31. Finishing all 12 is traditionally associated with good fortune for the 12 months ahead.
The custom is especially prominent in Madrid's Puerta del Sol, where the clock's chimes are broadcast nationally. Families and friends often prepare peeled or seedless grapes because the timing makes eating them quickly surprisingly difficult.
The precise origin is debated. A popular account links the tradition to a surplus grape harvest in 1909, when growers promoted extra grapes as a festive custom. Earlier references suggest the practice may have existed among parts of the public before that campaign, so the harvest story is best treated as a widely repeated explanation rather than the only proven origin.