Nytårsaften is the Danish name for New Year's Eve, including the custom of smashing old plates at friends' doors.
In the plate-smashing tradition, people save unwanted crockery and break it outside the homes of friends or neighbors. A large pile of fragments is traditionally interpreted as evidence that a household has many friends. The custom is playful rather than an invitation to damage someone else's property, and its prevalence varies between communities and generations.
Danish New Year's celebrations also include watching the monarch's televised speech, eating festive food, and jumping from a chair at midnight to symbolically “jump” into the new year. Fireworks are another common part of the evening.
Nytårsaften literally means “New Year's Eve.” It is distinct from Juleaften, Christmas Eve, and Sankt Hans Aften, the midsummer celebration. Those similarly formed Danish names are sometimes confused by learners of the language.