Overview
- Histories trace the custom to late‑19th‑century Spain, with a widely cited 1909 Alicante surplus that popularized grapes as New Year’s “good luck” fare.
- Each grape corresponds to a month in the year ahead, with wishes made at every bell strike; folk readings note that a smooth run signals few obstacles and a bitter grape hints at a tough month.
- The practice spread across Latin America and into Latino communities in the United States, where families adapt it to work shifts, time zones and use seedless grapes or symbolic substitutes.
- Companion rituals remain common: walking with a suitcase to invite travel, sweeping toward the door to clear bad energy, tossing water in places like Puerto Rico and Cuba, and burning muñecos in Ecuador and Colombia to purge the past.
- Color symbolism guides choices from underwear to candles—yellow or gold for prosperity, red for love, green for health, blue for calm, white for peace—with many lighting a white candle as a base alongside a chosen color.