Make a Wish
A person who says they're not superstitious is lying if they are saying it on New Year's Day. Very, very few people exist in Spain who have never tried to eat twelve grapes at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. Or gum drops, or mandarin wedges, or anything else that can be eaten in twelve small pieces. Then there are those who scoff at black cats, yet wear red underwear to usher in the new year. That's just a couple of the more common, automatic, superstitions.
The red underwear was imported from Italy. The twelve grapes is purely Spanish. It began at the end of the nineteenth century. At first it was a private, bourgeois affair. The well-to-do middle class of Madrid would eat grapes and drink champagne in the evening on New Year's Eve. Apparently it was a custom imported from France and Germany. At that time it was the custom for madrileños of mostly the lower classes to go out and "search for the Magi" on the fifth of January. It was mostly an excuse for rowdy and drunken behavior in the streets in the early morning hours. So much so that in 1882 the Mayor decided to impose a fine of five pesetas on those who underwent such a "search." In those times it was a lot of money, so the fine proved effective. People, however, needed to celebrate. So, protesting with what the Mayor and his friends had on the table, some groups of friends got together on New Year's Eve in Puerta del Sol and ate grapes and celebrated the twelve strokes of the bell in the clock of the Casa de Correos marking the beginning of January 1st and the New Year.
The habit grew and it became the custom to eat grapes and await the twelve strokes of midnight in Puerta del Sol on December 31st. The habit got a boost from the growers of table grapes in Alicante and Murcia in 1909 when, apparently, they had had a good year and had extra grapes to place on the market. And so the custom of eating grapes at the twelve chimes became extended throughout Spain, with the centerpoint in Madrid's Puerta del Sol. And the legend grew, or was encouraged, that eating one grape on each of the twelve chimes would bring luck in the new year. In the past few years substitutes were included, so that gum drops or any other twelve pieces eaten during the chimes would bring good luck, as well. That helped those who don't like grapes.
Now, every year there are grapes on the table on December 31st. There may be more or less food, but grapes there will be, even if exactly counted for each person to be able to eat twelve grapes at midnight. And make a wish. And hope for luck in the new year, superstitious or not.
The red underwear was imported from Italy. The twelve grapes is purely Spanish. It began at the end of the nineteenth century. At first it was a private, bourgeois affair. The well-to-do middle class of Madrid would eat grapes and drink champagne in the evening on New Year's Eve. Apparently it was a custom imported from France and Germany. At that time it was the custom for madrileños of mostly the lower classes to go out and "search for the Magi" on the fifth of January. It was mostly an excuse for rowdy and drunken behavior in the streets in the early morning hours. So much so that in 1882 the Mayor decided to impose a fine of five pesetas on those who underwent such a "search." In those times it was a lot of money, so the fine proved effective. People, however, needed to celebrate. So, protesting with what the Mayor and his friends had on the table, some groups of friends got together on New Year's Eve in Puerta del Sol and ate grapes and celebrated the twelve strokes of the bell in the clock of the Casa de Correos marking the beginning of January 1st and the New Year.
The habit grew and it became the custom to eat grapes and await the twelve strokes of midnight in Puerta del Sol on December 31st. The habit got a boost from the growers of table grapes in Alicante and Murcia in 1909 when, apparently, they had had a good year and had extra grapes to place on the market. And so the custom of eating grapes at the twelve chimes became extended throughout Spain, with the centerpoint in Madrid's Puerta del Sol. And the legend grew, or was encouraged, that eating one grape on each of the twelve chimes would bring luck in the new year. In the past few years substitutes were included, so that gum drops or any other twelve pieces eaten during the chimes would bring good luck, as well. That helped those who don't like grapes.
Now, every year there are grapes on the table on December 31st. There may be more or less food, but grapes there will be, even if exactly counted for each person to be able to eat twelve grapes at midnight. And make a wish. And hope for luck in the new year, superstitious or not.
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