Okay, full disclosure: I am most definitely NOT a Gen Z’er (more accurately I could be described as a Gen Geezer), but that doesn’t mean I cannot be fascinated by what attracts the current class of the youngest adult generation to something on TikTok like a proverbial magnet. The latest example of which is the trend of eating grapes under a table for good luck in the coming new year.
Will Eating Grapes Under the Table Actually Bring You Good Luck in the New Year?
If you’re scratching your head, this isn’t a story seen or heard via one of the really convincing parody news sites like The Onion or Robot Butt, but on actual, real news sites and I just couldn’t let it go at that.
The story and videos trending on TikTok now are of very enthusiastic Gen Z’ers talking, and in some cases singing, their way through the eating of 12 grapes under a table. The story goes that one grape is consumed at each stroke of the clock at midnight December 31st – one for each month – to bring good luck throughout the coming year.
When Did Eating Grapes for Good Luck Start?
So, being the curious old-timer that I am, I did a little research, and this “new” trend does indeed have roots in Spanish culture all the way back to the 1890s.
Without the benefit of social media or any other of today’s instant ways of getting information, it took a while to spread, but in 1909, a group of grape growers managed to take things to the next level by getting people to believe that the sales of grapes from an exceptional harvest was surely a way to encourage good luck in the coming new year.
The practice of eating the grapes has had, and still does in some places, certain variations of what can be expected from the practice. In some cultures, it was thought to be a way of fending off evil, but mostly the practice centered around hoped-for luck for the coming new year.
There seems to be two main ways to celebrate this interesting custom. One is being in a close-knit family setting so everyone has the opportunity to provide their energies to the hope for luck. The other being gathering with large groups of people for a more community style of festivities.
Other variations to the process include subbing in watermelons – how the heck you eat 12 of those is beyond me (even slices in the 12 strokes of a clock) – and oranges, which most likely leads to a lot of juice flying around and stinging eyeballs.
At the end of the day, is it really any different than the tradition our family has always observed at the start of a new year, pork and sauerkraut?
And honestly, I have to admit, it may very well be the first time I watch a story about something on TikTok that didn’t have me shaking my head side to side, but up and down. It was a refreshing change of pace.
Here’s wishing all of you a joyous and prosperous New Year! Cheers!
