Filipinos are very fond of circles. The circle is said to represent prosperity in this Southeast Asian country. Banquet tables often have fruit arranged in a circle, representing coins, with the desire to bring financial luck to the family. Filipinos try to dress in polka-dots because the roundness signifies prosperity. Pockets are filled with round coins, which are jangled to attract wealth. 

 

 

Therefore, locals often wear polka dots on New Year’s Eve, fill their bags with coins (circles) and eat round fruits to pray for wealth in the new year.  You will see families displaying a fruit tray on the dining table with 12 round fruits, very popular with grapes because they have a habit of placing 12 fruits with round or nearly round shape – representing 12 months of the year.

 

 

Also a Hispanic tradition, eating grapes or small round fruits is an inherited custom from the colonization era. One version calls for twelve round grapes, while another version requires twelve different round fruits. Whichever version is followed, the fruits have to be on the dining table at midnight. With the grapes, each and every person must eat all twelve, but with the whole big fruits, each person simply takes a bite from each.

 

 

The round fruits represent prosperity as the shape resembles the gold and silver coins of olden days. This superstition is also tied to the belief that wearing a polka-dotted shirt or dress on New Year’s Eve will lead to a prosperous new year.

 

 

According to Zenrooms blog