In a Danish New Year's Eve tradition, people symbolically smash old plates against friends' and neighbors' doors.
The custom is associated with breaking unwanted crockery after the New Year's celebration. A large pile of broken plates outside a home is traditionally interpreted as evidence that the household has many friends willing to visit and take part. The practice turns a household object into a playful sign of social bonds.
Modern accounts often describe plates specifically, although other disposable or unwanted crockery may appear in retellings. The custom is separate from Denmark's midnight jumping tradition, in which people leap from a chair or sofa as the clock strikes twelve to symbolically jump into the new year.
Danish celebrations also commonly include the televised New Year's address by the monarch, fireworks, champagne, and the almond-containing dessert risalamande at Christmas rather than as a universal New Year's dish. The plate-smashing custom should therefore not be treated as Denmark's only New Year's practice.