Overview
- Histories trace the custom to early 20th‑century Spain, citing both a bourgeois imitation of French habits and a 1909 push by Alicante producers after a grape surplus.
- The practice spread across Latin America, reaching Mexico in the early 1900s and becoming part of household New Year celebrations.
- The ritual calls for one grape with each bell strike at midnight, with each grape symbolizing a month of the coming year.
- Participants commonly make a wish or set a specific intention for each grape, focusing on health, work, love, wellbeing or emotional stability.
- Popular folk beliefs persist—such as a smooth swallow signaling fewer obstacles and a bitter grape hinting at a tough month—while modern adaptations include seedless grapes, flexible timing, or symbolic substitutes.