Many New Year's revelers in Denmark jump from chairs at midnight for good luck.
The Danish custom is often described as jumping into the new year. As midnight arrives, participants stand on chairs, sofas, or other raised surfaces and leap down, symbolically moving from the old year into the new one. The action is associated with luck and is commonly performed during private celebrations.
Danish New Year's celebrations also include other distinctive traditions. People may watch the monarch's New Year's speech, eat celebratory food, and hear the midnight broadcast of the clock at Copenhagen City Hall. Fireworks and social gatherings are also common features of the holiday.
The chair-jumping practice is a cultural custom rather than a formal national ceremony, so participation varies from household to household. It is sometimes confused with similar “jump into the new year” customs reported in other countries, but Denmark is particularly associated with the chair-leaping tradition in popular descriptions of New Year's Eve.