Which traditional New Year's Eve custom involves eating twelve grapes at midnight in Spain?

The Spanish New Year's Eve custom of eating twelve grapes at midnight is called Las doce uvas de la suerte, meaning “the twelve grapes of luck.”

Participants try to eat one grape with each of the twelve chimes marking midnight. Each grape represents one month of the coming year, and successfully eating all twelve is traditionally associated with good fortune. The custom is especially linked with the clock at Madrid's Puerta del Sol, whose chimes are broadcast nationally.

The practice is commonly dated to the early twentieth century. One widely repeated account says Spanish grape growers promoted the custom after a surplus harvest, although the tradition may also have had earlier elite or urban precedents. Historians therefore distinguish between the popular origin story and the broader evidence for its development.

The grapes are usually prepared in advance because the chimes arrive quickly. Similar twelve-grape customs have spread to parts of Latin America, but local timing, names and accompanying foods can vary.