At Copenhagen's New Year's Eve celebration, some Danes traditionally smash plates against friends' doors.
The Danish plate-smashing custom is associated with wishing friends good luck in the coming year. People may save unwanted or chipped tableware and break it outside the homes of people they value. A large pile of fragments has traditionally been interpreted as evidence of many friends, although the practice is less universal today than popular descriptions suggest.
Denmark's New Year celebrations also include a midnight speech by the monarch, fireworks, and the traditional dessert called kransekage. Plate smashing is often discussed alongside other European New Year customs, but it should not be treated as a ritual performed by every Danish household.