Alex Trelinski
MILLIONS of people in Spain will welcome in the New Year tonight by eating 12 grapes between the dozen strokes of midnight- many watching TV coverage of the Puerta de Sol clock tower in Madrid.
But where does the tradition come from?
Despite the myth that it was an idea from Alicante province grape growers in the Vinapolo region dating back to 1909, the 12 grapes concept was created in Madrid almost 30 years earlier.
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A historian says the tradition started in 1882 among poorer residents in Madrid poking fun at the aristocracy in charge of the city.
Madrid mayor Jose Abascal y Carredano was fed up with the excessive parties that spilled out into the capital’s streets around the New Year.
At this time, according to researcher Gabriel Medina Vilchez, the main festivities took place on January 5 on the eve of Spain’s traditional Three Kings’ day (Dia de los Reyes Magos).
Jose Abascal decided to impose a five peseta tax on anyone in search of a good time on Madrid’s city streets.
It was a steep levy but it led to some creativity.
Few people held parties on New Year’s Eve, except for wealthy aristocrats and government officials who had seen the French bourgeois tradition of eating grapes and drinking champagne on December 31.
As grapes were cheaper in warmer Spain, this meant the Madrileños denied fun on January 5 decided to congregate in the Puerto de Sol square on December 31 when no tax was in place.
Puerta de Sol then housed Spain’s Ministerio de Gobernacion, which ran the country.
To poke fun at the bitter Spanish bourgeois, people began eating grapes before midnight while wishing one another good luck in the coming year.
The tradition was so popular that it soon spread all across Spain, including Spanish-speaking countries abroad.
Just for the record, the myth over the 12 grapes being created and popularised in 1909 was down to some clever marketing by Alicante area vineyard growers.
Due to a bumper harvest leading to overproduction, they encouraged the consumption of grapes at the stroke of midnight at the start of the New Year.
That story- though accurate- gave them credit for a custom they did not create, but even now they supply two-thirds of the grapes consumed in Spain at the stroke of midnight every New Year’s Eve.
Eating 12 grapes leads to a year of good luck and prosperity, and in some areas of Spain it was reportedly believed to ward off witches and evil in general.
