Arcadia Spain

In Barcelona, as in the rest of Spain, luck, love and prosperity come together with superstitions and traditions. Let’s learn some of them so you can start 2019 with the best good fortune.

Last dinner: Last dinner of the year is one of the most important. People enjoy the last meal with family or friends at home or in a restaurant. Cava (the Catalan sparkling wine) is the stellar drink that night.

12 lucky grapes: Maybe one of the most shocking traditions or superstitions for foreigners that night is eating grapes at each stroke of midnight. It is said you’ll have 12 months of good luck if you manage to down 12 grapes in the 12 seconds before midnight. That’s why you’ll see that each man, woman, child, grandma and grandpa will be clinging to twelve green grapes.  Here in Barcelona, the meeting point to start the New Year is at Plaça Espanya at Montjuïc’s famous Magic Fountain. This is the venue for Barcelona’s biggest celebration with a spectacular firewok display, music and live performances.

 New Year's Eve Fireworks in Barcelona 

Red underwear: Don’t forget to wear red underwear that night if you want to find the love of your life! For Spanish red symbolizes prosperity, passion and its especially symbolic of love.  In some parts of Spain, this cupid-calling good luck charm only works if the underwear were gift. In others, you have to give your festive underpants away by the end of the night for the love potion to work.

Toast with gold and cava: To bring not just good fortune, but an actual fortune in the New Year, Spaniards drop a gold object into their glass of Cava before the midnight toast. In order for the good luck charm to work, you have to drink the entire glass of cava after the midnight toast and retrieve your golden object.

Start the year on the right foot! The tradition dictates that you literally have to start the year on the right food. It is not clear if it is the first step right after the bells chime in the New Year or when you walk into your house after the night out. Just in case, keep in mind to hop around on your right foot all night!

 The first swim of the year. You read well! Hundreds of brave people take part in this first swim of the year in la Barceloneta beach. It is said that will keep your good health up for the year.