In a Danish New Year's Eve tradition, people smash plates to wish friends good luck.
The custom involves throwing old or unused plates against the doors of friends' homes. A large pile of broken crockery was traditionally interpreted as a sign that a household had many friends who wanted to bring it luck in the coming year.
Modern celebrations vary, and the practice is not universal across Denmark. It is often described alongside other Danish New Year customs, including jumping from a chair at midnight to symbolically leap into the new year. Accounts sometimes confuse the tradition with smashing glasses or ceramic objects in other countries, but the well-known Danish custom specifically concerns plates. Its meaning is social: the broken dishes represent goodwill and the number of visiting friends rather than anger or bad fortune.