Denmark’s New Year custom of throwing old plates and glasses at doors is commonly called plate smashing.
In the tradition, people save unwanted crockery and throw it against the front doors of friends or neighbors around New Year. A pile of broken dishes outside a home is traditionally interpreted as a sign that the household has many friends willing to visit and share in the celebration. The custom is playful rather than an invitation to damage property indiscriminately.
The practice has become less universal in modern Denmark, partly because of safety, noise, cleanup, and changing household habits. Some accounts describe people leaving dishes at doors instead of throwing them, while others treat the custom as an old-fashioned regional tradition.
Denmark has other New Year customs too, including eating special foods and watching the monarch’s annual New Year speech. Plate smashing is not the same as jumping from a chair at midnight, another reported Danish custom symbolizing a leap into the new year.