December 31, 2004
Cuban Grapes (Updated)
Grapes are probably scarce in Miami today as they are every New Year's Eve. During the last week of the year you can go to any supermarket here and find the produce section invaded by grapes. All kinds of grapes. Red seedless, green seedless, big old red seeded grapes. Yet today, the 31st of December, they are hard to find. Where are all the grapes going? you may be asking. Well, I'll tell you.
On New Year's Eve, while most of us are all celebrating the end of the year and the coming of the new year, there is one person in each Cuban household in charge of grapes. The Grape Keeper. People will be dancing and drinking and laughing and enjoying the end of year merriment and one person will be in the kitchen laboriously counting grapes. You'll walk into the kitchen for a few ice cubes and find the counter covered with little plastic cups or some other small container filled with grapes.
Twelve grapes to a container, to be exact.
The grape keeper's job is very important to Cubans. It could be the difference between a good year and a bad year.
A few minutes before midnight tonight, the grape keeper will hand each person at the party their own little container with the twelve grapes. "No te las comas todavia" they'll say. Dont eat them yet. You may be hungry and the grapes may look deliciously juicy in thier little container in your hand, but you can't eat them. You have to wait.
Until midnight.
At the stroke of midinght, while everyone else in the world is screaming and toasting and singing Auld Lang Syne and hugging and kissing, we Cubans are eating grapes. Twelve grapes counted and prepared specifically for you to be eaten precisely at the stroke of midnight, one after the other.
Each grape represents one month and they are eaten on New Year's because it is our tradition. Some say each grape represents luck for each month, some say it is so you always have food to eat in each of the coming twelve months.
It is hard sometimes to eat all the grapes, being a Cuban. Some times there will have been a death in the family the preceding year and as always, that person will be remembered at the stroke of a new year. Other times, there may be a person or two celebrating with you who still have their mother or father or gradparents or siblings still on the island. And at that precise moment in time, with a fresh New Year in sight, a new future upon them, they'll remember those left behind on their beloved Cuba. And remember, possibly, the struggles those family members may face in Cuba just to find their own twelve grapes. It's hard to eat grapes, however delicious they may be, when you are crying.
Twelve grapes, one for each month, every new year.
I'll gladly eat my twelve grapes tonight, and be thankful for having them and having everything else their twelve predecessors from last year afforded me. And for a moment, in between kissing the wife and hugging the parents and kisses on the cheeks from my tias, Ill think about Cuba and hope these twelve grapes she gets this year are different from the 540 she's already had.
Feliz Año Nuevo, everyone!!!! May the coming year bring you all health and smiles and prosperity!
And may it see the shackles of bondage removed from that little island somewhere in the Caribbean.
Oh, and dont forget to eat your grapes. All twelve of them. At the stroke of midnight. One after the other.
UPDATE: One of those grapes I ate last year was probably responsible for for my meeting this guy. A special thanks to you, Yoan, for being an inspiration to both my Cubanidad and my Americaness. I hope all of your grapes keep you safe - especially this coming year - but also for every single year to come. Gracias y feliz año, mi socio.
Posted by Val Prieto at December 31, 2004 07:55 AM
Comments
Happy New Year, Val. Hope it's a great one.
I just so happened to buy grapes yesterday. I just checked and there's enough for everyone to get twelve of their own at midnight.
Posted by: michele at December 31, 2004 08:03 AM
I wish I could be in Miami to go to the Tropigala and listen to Willy Chirino's concert tonight
Posted by: Stefania at December 31, 2004 08:51 AM
Feliz 2005!
Posted by: Fausta at December 31, 2004 08:57 AM
Happy New Year!
I still havent picked up my grapes.
Dont forget to mop the house today and save the bucket of dirty water to throw out the door at midnight.
Posted by: Efrain at December 31, 2004 09:01 AM
A Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year to you and yours my friend!
Posted by: Laughing Wolf at December 31, 2004 09:29 AM
Val, as 'Cuban' as I feel in my bones, I have never done the grapes thing because I don't like grapes. I can't tell you the number of times my mom would get PO'd at me on New Year's Eve because I would not eat the grapes! What should I do? And a feliz año nuevo to everyone! I echo Val's wish that 2005 will see the demise of the monster 90 miles away from us that haunts our days...
Posted by: George L. Moneo at December 31, 2004 10:25 AM
May the New Year bring nothing but happiness and prosperity to you and yours, Val!
Posted by: Da Goddess at December 31, 2004 10:57 AM
Very interesting. My wife is Mexican/Spanish and she does the same thing. Only with her family, the 12 grapes represented the twelve chimes of the clock at midnight! I just recently heard a commercial on the radio for something similar.
Too funny. Happy New Year to you and yours.
Posted by: The Other Mike S. at December 31, 2004 01:04 PM
The grapes are actually common on New Year's Eve in Spain, Portugal, and pretty much all of Latin America. I read somewhere that it goes back several centuries. The grape harvest on the Iberian peninsula was especially bountiful one year, and people ate grapes to ensure luck for the next year. I could be completely wrong though.
At any rate, tonight will be my first New Year’s Eve away from my family in Miami. I bought a bag of large red grapes earlier this week, and I prepared three little baggies—one each for myself and the two friends I’ll be spending the holiday with—of a dozen grapes. At the stroke of midnight, I intend to be properly armed with a glass of champagne in one hand and a dozen grapes in the other.
Happy New Year!
Posted by: carolina at December 31, 2004 01:14 PM
Gracias Valentín. Ojalá que el próximo 31 nos lo podamos pasar comiendo carne de puerco y tomando cerveza en una Cuba libre. Feliz año y próspero año nuevo.
Posted by: Yoan Gustavo at December 31, 2004 02:40 PM
Val,
Happy New Year to you and your family. Never heard of the grape tradition, but I think it's pretty cool.
Posted by: Ray Smith at January 1, 2005 12:53 AM
Had my 12 grapes in your honor.
Posted by: Da Goddess at January 1, 2005 12:04 PM
happy new year to you.
when i was growing up, we used to go with my grandfather to the municipio de bauta parties. at 12, we used to eat the grapes and give the familiar toast - "el ano que viene en cuba". Unfortunately, my grandfather never got to toast a new year in cuba again. hopefully, this will be our year. and may it be a slow painful death!
Posted by: tony at January 2, 2005 10:38 PM
Thanks for the explaination of las uvas, since I completely forgot about what they stood for! Puedes creer que hace cuatro años comiendo uvas y tomando sidra para que cuando mis amigos me pregunta de que significa eso I shrug with a mouth full of grapes while sipping Spanish Cider (from Asturias), and mumble with my drunk Bacardi 151 breath: "It's a Cuban thing".
Posted by: Songuacassal at January 4, 2005 04:01 AM
Thanks for sharing your traditions with us in such a beautiful way...your posting gave me the chillls...
Up here in Tallahassee, Florida, we eat collard greens or turnip greens and black-eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck. Here is an article about the origins of that tradition:
http://www.topics-mag.com/internatl/holidays/new-year/customs/black-eyed-peas.htm
I hear that up north they eat sauerkraut on New Years for the same reasons. Personally, I'd prefer the black eyed peas or the grapes to sauerkraut any day.
;)
Posted by: catzmeow at January 4, 2005 02:18 PM