Thursday, December 29, 2022 | 11:45 a.m.
After Christmas Eve and Christmas, the last day of the year is celebrated this Saturday, December 31. This is the last event of the year-end parties. And it’s another chance to celebrate with friends and family, and ring in the New Year together.
In Argentina, it is customary to get together for dinner and wait until midnight to receive the New Year. The classic menu for New Year’s Eve dinner usually repeats the Christmas one: salty pionono, tongue with vinaigrette, vitel toné or roast.
But there are also some rites and customs that are carried out during the night of December 31 that cannot be missed on Saturday night. One of the best-known and most popular traditions is to eat 12 grapes at New Year’s.
Why are 12 grapes eaten on New Years?
Although many people perform this rite every December 31 night with family and friends, generally little or nothing is known about its origin. The truth is that there are different versions about the custom of eating 12 grapes on New Year.
First of all, it is a tradition inherited from Spain, which is carried out both in Latin America and in Portugal. According to reports, the custom began when in 1909, in Alicante, in the south of Spain, there was an abundant harvest of the vine that left a significant surplus, and the producers decided to promote packages of 12 grapes as “lucky grapes”. representing all the months of the year, as a way to increase your sales.
However, there are newspapers from the time that date back to 1882 and that also mention this custom, thus ruling out the previous version. According to this theory, 1882 was the time when members of the upper class drank champagne and ate grapes to welcome the New Year. So, a group of members of the popular classes decided to make fun of that opulence and go to Puerta del Sol, in Madrid, to eat grapes with the chimes at the Royal Post Office.
How to do the ritual of the grapes in the New Year?
According to custom, this ritual consists of eating 12 grapes just at midnight, when the first minute of January 1 begins. Grapes are eaten because this fruit is associated with spirituality, hope and good luck, although in some places, the ritual has been transformed and the grapes were replaced by raisins. And they eat 12 because each one represents a month of the year.
But that is not all. As they are eaten, you have to make wishes for the coming year, in this case, 2023. One per grape, and think about them. All this has to be done in less than a minute for it to work well. And if you are in a place where you can hear the chimes of midnight, even better.
Beyond whether or not it has an effect, the truth is that it is a centuries-old custom that is repeated year after year in Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Colombia, among other countries.
