¡Próspero Año Nuevo! (Happy New Year!)

So as 2015 draws to a close this evening, how will the Spanish be celebrating the start of a new year at midnight? With the ‘Uvas de la Suerte’ (the lucky grapes) of course! A tradition that started in the early 1900’s, eating a grape with each strike of the bell at midnight, one to represent each month of the new year, is believed to bring luck and prosperity as well as a chance to make a ‘deseo’ (wish) for the new year to come. In Madrid revellers gather in the Puerta del Sol before the countdown begins ready to eat their twelve grapes to the chimes of the famous clock, watched on the television by families celebrating together at home and in squares across the country.

So instead of singing Old Lang Syne this year, why not get your twelve grapes at the ready and join the Spaniards by eating them with the chimes of Big Ben, and bring yourself some ‘buena suerte’ (good luck) for the new year to come!