New year — new love?
People on TikTok are claiming to have found a New Year’s Eve hack to improve their love life — but it’s actually an ancient tradition.
Izzy Dwyer posted a TikTok video of herself quickly devouring 12 grapes at the strike of midnight last New Year, followed by a cute montage of her and her boyfriend.
“Who would have thought,” she captioned the video.
She explained that she discovered #grapetheory on TikTok and attempted the ritual to ring in the new year with new love.
“I saw on TikTok that [eating the 12 grapes is] meant to bring you luck in your love life, and I did it with three friends,” Dwyer told Metro at the time.
“One had a boyfriend and me and my other friend were single, and now we’re both in relationships now, too.”
She added cheekily: “I guess you could say it had a 100% success rate.”
Dwyer’s boyfriend isn’t as sure that eating some fruit led to their love story, but she’s not so certain.
“I don’t think he really believed the grape theory when I told him about it. He thinks it’s a nice idea but I don’t think he believes in it, but I do,” she said.
“I would say to other single people to do the grape theory trend as you have nothing to lose, and what is the worst that can happen?”
But the grape theory is more than just a TikTok trend, it’s actually a centuries-old Spanish tradition called “uvas de la suerte,” which translates to “grapes of luck.”
The custom consists of eating a grape coinciding with each chime of the clock at midnight on Dec. 31 to welcome the new year. Each grape represents a month in the coming year.
Many cultures — mostly Hispanic — have adopted the tradition. Some carry offbeat stipulations, such as eating the grapes under a table, all with the intention of bringing success — and amor.
Liliana Tuskia also took part in the ritual last year and found herself lucky in love.
Tuskia posted a TikTok video that opens with her sitting under a table and eagerly shoving a dozen grapes into her mouth before cutting to a clip of her August 2024 wedding.
“It really works,” Liliana wrote on TikTok.
She explained she had been single for four years before taking part in the tradition and getting engaged to the “love of her life” that year.
Some people are skeptical that the tradition is anything more than superstition, but one thing many can agree on is that they’re over dating apps — and open to new ways of finding lifelong love.
Along with eating 12 grapes on New Year’s Eve, singletons have turned to matchmakers or accepted their fate of being single.
