A New Year is all about letting go of past mistakes, hope, and looking forward to new beginnings. As T.S. Eliot once famously said, “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice.” This is also the time of manifesting one’s true desires, and of love and better relationships. Based on this thought, now a new trend which claims to bring one love and luck in the new year is going viral on social media.
Popularly called the ’12 Grapes’ trend, people– especially women– following it are seen eating 12 green grapes under a table at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s eve. In their videos posted on social media, women claim that they did this trend last New Year’s and they indeed got lucky in love this year– thus encouraging others to do the same to find their perfect partner in 2025.
Origin of the ’12 Grapes’ trend
Interestingly, eating 12 green grapes at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s eve is not just a social media trend but it is rooted in Spanish traditions and is called “las doce uvas de la suerte“, which roughly translates to “the 12 grapes of luck.” This tradition of eating grapes on New Year’s eve initially began in the late 1800s but it got popular among people in the late 19th century. The reason: It was in the late 1900s when the farmers in Alicante, Spain produced a huge harvest of grapes; to increase the sales of their produce they came up with this innovative trend to welcome love, luck, and prosperity in the New Year.
One may also wonder why are only 12 grapes eaten in this trend. Well, the answer is that each of the 12 grapes represents a month in the new year. And so, the idea of eating grapes at midnight is to manifest love and good relationships for each of the month in the coming year.
While the original tradition was to eat 12 grapes at midnight on New Year’s eve, it has now got a twist on social media– to eat it while sitting under a table.
A part of pop-culture
While videos of the ’12 Grapes’ trend are going viral on social media, this New Year’s eve tradition is also highlighted in our pop-culture. For instance, in the hit show ‘Modern Family‘, Gloria (played by Sophia Vergara) once tells her son Manny that she once ate 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s evening and it changed her life for the better. She shares how she was a single mother living in poverty a year ago, however, the ’12 Grapes’ trend worked for her and now she is married to a wealthy man!
Does the ’12 Grapes’ really bring one love and luck?
While some might think the ’12 Grapes’ trend to be superstition, for others it is a form of manifesting their desires, including true love. Though the trend has no scientific proof of being true, there’s no harm in trying it no?
Will you try the ’12 Grapes’ trend tonight? Tell us in the comments section below.
