What tradition in Spain involves eating one grape for each stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve?

The Spanish New Year's Eve tradition involves eating twelve grapes, one for each stroke of midnight.

Known in Spanish as las doce uvas de la suerte, or “the twelve grapes of luck,” the custom is practiced at midnight on December 31. Each grape is meant to correspond to one month of the coming year, and finishing them is associated with good fortune and prosperity.

The tradition became especially prominent in Spain during the early twentieth century. A widely repeated account connects its popularity with grape growers who promoted the practice after a surplus harvest, although references to the custom existed before the best-known promotion story. Television broadcasts often show the clock at Madrid's Puerta del Sol, whose chimes guide the eating ritual nationwide.

The twelve grapes are sometimes confused with a general Spanish New Year's food custom, but the defining feature is the one-grape-per-chime pattern. The chimes are spaced closely together, so participants often prepare the grapes in advance by washing, peeling, or removing seeds.