When the clock strikes 12 at New Year’s, you start jumping and celebrating with your family. This new year is going to bring so many new opportunities and accomplishments! After the excitement dies down, you lay in your bed, go on Snapchat, and scroll through TikTok.  When on these platforms, you see one thing in common; everyone is frantically eating grapes. You may know why, but I know that many people don’t. I’m going to explain why people are eating grapes for New Year.

Eating 12 grapes under a table originated in Spain. “Las doce uvas de la suerte,” or “The twelve grapes of luck,”  are said to bring good fortune and prosperity in the new year.  This tradition was in the late 1800s but became more popular in the early 1900s when farmers in the Alicante area produced too much harvest and needed to increase grape sales.

There are some rules to this tradition. You are supposed to gather 12 grapes and eat one at each chime of the clock, which is a bit challenging believe it or not. If you can finish all of these grapes in one minute, so before 12:01, you will see luck, success, and good energy going into the new year. 

If you REALLY want to be superstitious and do it 100 percent correctly and accurately, there is a certain grape you can buy. It is called an Aledo grape.  These grapes are traditional Spanish varieties protected by the country’s designation of origin. Aledo grapes are wrapped in paper bags as they ripen to create sweet, thin-skinned grapes.

One perception of this ritual is that it is strongly associated with finding love, but that is only one interpretation. In reality, the direction of luck is all about what you manifest when you eat the grapes under the table. This practice is also known to ward off bad energy. Another common myth is that you have to eat them under the table, which is not true. Sure, there are different variations on how the grapes are eaten depending on where you are but eating them under the table seems to be more of a TikTok thing.

Even if you don’t think it would work, it is still fun to try and test your luck, and who knows, maybe these 12 grapes will make all of your wishes come true.