New Year's Eve in Spain
- María Molina
- Dec 31, 2025
- 1 min read
This is how we celebrate New Year's Eve in Spain!
Every December 31, as the clock approaches midnight, Spain is filled with excitement, laughter, and hope. The most famous tradition? Eating 12 lucky grapes—one grape for each chime of the clock—to welcome the New Year with good fortune and joy. These are the New Year's Eve bells.
How is this tradition celebrated?
In Spain, New Year's Eve is celebrated in two ways:
At home, with family and friends, after a delicious dinner. Everyone gathers around the television, listening to the chimes, and we get ready to eat the 12 grapes just as the clock strikes midnight.
In the street, under an iconic clock like the one in Madrid's Puerta del Sol, where thousands of people gather to share the moment and eat grapes together amid music, confetti, and lots of excitement.
Each grape represents a month of the coming year. If you manage to eat them all in time, it is said that you will have luck, prosperity, and happiness for the next twelve months.
Where does this custom come from?
The tradition of eating twelve lucky grapes dates back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One popular theory says it was the brainchild of grape farmers in Alicante to sell their extra harvest in December. Another version suggests it began among the inhabitants of Madrid as a way to imitate (and then popularize) a French custom of eating grapes with champagne on New Year's Eve.
Today, this delicious tradition is deeply ingrained in New Year's Eve celebrations throughout Spain—and many tourists practice it too!
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