Where did the twelve grapes tradition come from?

Where it came from, and where it went

The usual story is 1909: a glut of grapes that year, and growers who sold them off for New Year's Eve as the grapes of luck. It is the story the piece tells. Newspaper reports from 1882 already describe Madrileños eating grapes at midnight, apparently mocking the upper classes' French habit of champagne and grapes — so the 1909 surplus may only have given an existing custom its push.

The custom has travelled. National Geographic's Latin American edition and Colombia's El Tiempo both report that it is now kept in several Latin American countries, and in Portugal, though not as a majority habit. Where exactly, and how widely, is harder to pin down, so treat it as Spanish with cousins abroad.

• The tradition is usually dated to 1909, when there were too many grapes and growers sold them for Nochevieja.
• An alternative account dates it to 1882 in Madrid; newspapers of that year already record the custom, so 1909 may only have boosted it.
• The custom began in Spain and has spread to some countries of Latin America and to Portugal, though not as a majority practice.

La tradición empezó en 1909.

The tradition began in 1909.

Ese año hubo demasiadas uvas, y los agricultores las vendieron para Nochevieja.

That year there were too many grapes, and the growers sold them for New Year's Eve.