What Mexican New Year's Eve custom involves eating lentils to symbolize prosperity?

The Mexican New Year's Eve custom involving lentils is eating lentils to symbolize prosperity.

In Mexican New Year traditions, lentils may be eaten or displayed as a sign of abundance and financial good fortune. Their many small seeds make them a natural symbol of plentiful resources, and the practice belongs to a wider set of rituals intended to welcome luck in the coming year.

Other Mexican customs include eating twelve grapes at midnight, wearing particular colors, sweeping the home, or carrying luggage around the block to symbolize travel. These practices vary by family and region, so no single ritual is followed by every Mexican household.

The lentil custom also has parallels elsewhere. Lentils are used as a New Year's prosperity food in parts of Italy and other countries because their shape can resemble coins. The shared symbolism does not mean the celebrations are identical; ingredients, timing, and local explanations differ.