{"id":5157,"date":"2026-01-09T02:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T10:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markcomedia.co.uk\/?p=5157"},"modified":"2026-01-09T02:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T10:26:14","slug":"why-do-people-associate-eating-grapes-on-new-years-eve-with-good-luck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markcomedia.co.uk\/?p=5157","title":{"rendered":"Why Do People Associate Eating Grapes on New Year\u2019s Eve With Good Luck?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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You\u2019ve done Champagne toasts and countdown kisses, but have you tried eating grapes on New Year\u2019s Eve for good luck? In recent years, the tradition\u2014which involves some iteration of eating exactly 12 grapes as the clock strikes midnight, often while crouched under a table\u2014has become something of a viral sensation. Many TikTok creators even claim that the practice has blessed them with everything from greater fortune to true love.<\/p>\n

If the ritual has you scratching your head in wonder, you\u2019re not alone. \u201cIs it so you\u2019ll get engaged?\u201d one Vogue<\/em> editor asked when the topic recently came up at the office. \u201cBe careful doing that,\u201d another advised. \u201cI heard you can choke.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to get to the bottom of the phenomenon, I consulted some experts. Read on to find out everything you\u2019ve ever wanted to know about the custom of eating grapes on New Year\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Why do people eat grapes on New Year\u2019s?<\/h2>\n

\u201cEating 12 grapes at midnight supposedly brings good luck for the coming new year\u2014one month of good luck per grape,\u201d says Dr. Daniel Compora, a professor at the University of Toledo who specializes in folklore and popular culture. \u201cThey need to be eaten at each stroke of midnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s most common to simply eat the grapes as the clock chimes, there are\u2014as you\u2019ve probably clocked on social media\u2014several ways to participate in the tradition. \u201cSome variations indicate that people need to do this while wearing red undergarments or sitting under a table,\u201d Compora explains. \u201cAnother variant suggests that doing so will ensure a person finds love during the coming year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of how it\u2019s done, two rules seem pretty consistent: Each grape represents a wish for the 12 months ahead, and you must finish eating all 12 of the grapes before the clock strikes 12:01, or the wishes won\u2019t come true. \u201cYou cannot still be chewing,\u201d Noel Wolf, a cultural expert and language teacher at Babbel, emphasizes.<\/p>\n

Where did the tradition come from?<\/h2>\n

Eating grapes on New Year\u2019s isn\u2019t just something that someone on the internet made up; its roots actually go back at least a hundred years. \u201cThis is really a Spanish tradition,\u201d explains Michael A. Di Giovine, Ph.D., a professor of anthropology who focuses on food heritage and holiday traditions in Mediterranean culture at West Chester University. \u201cMany say it originated only in the late 1890s\/early 1900s to use up a surplus of grapes. There\u2019s also some evidence in late-19th-century newspapers that high-class people would eat these grapes on New Year\u2019s for lunch. But most Spaniards would say it was in 1909, when merchants from Alicante and Murcia handed out grapes at the Puerta del Sol in Madrid to encourage and create this tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that end, while the tradition is also popular in Latin America, it\u2019s a very big deal in Spain. Wolf, who lives in Seville, says that just like how Americans follow the goings-on in Times Square on New Year\u2019s Eve, in Spain, everyone tunes in to the Campanadas en la Puerta de Sol,<\/em> broadcast live from Madrid, to know when to eat the grapes: \u201cIt\u2019s a joyful way to welcome the New Year with optimism and intention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is eating grapes on New Year\u2019s a choking hazard?<\/h2>\n

According to Giovine, the aforementioned choking hazard is very real\u2014so much so that certain precautions have emerged around the tradition. \u201cSince the late 1960s, television stations would show the bell tower at the Plaza del Sol so that people who were not in Madrid could participate,\u201d he says. \u201cFunny enough, because there are always some injuries, I heard that some bell ringers slow down the chiming to allow for people to consume the grapes more slowly.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve done Champagne toasts and countdown kisses, but have you tried eating grapes on New…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markcomedia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markcomedia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markcomedia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markcomedia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markcomedia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markcomedia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markcomedia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markcomedia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markcomedia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markcomedia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}