In Denmark, some people traditionally jump off a chair at midnight on New Year's Eve to leap into the new year.
The custom is a playful symbolic act: a person climbs onto a chair or sofa and jumps down as the clock reaches midnight. It is intended to mark the transition from the old year to the new one, rather than to serve as a religious rite or formal public ceremony.
Danish New Year's celebrations also commonly include a televised royal speech, fireworks, champagne, and the traditional dessert kransekage. Friends and families may gather around the television before joining the midnight festivities.
The chair-jumping custom should not be confused with the Danish practice of smashing or leaving broken plates outside friends' homes. That separate tradition is associated with friendship and good fortune, and modern households may observe either custom, both, or neither.