In a Danish New Year's Eve custom, old plates are traditionally smashed against a doorway.
The practice is associated with throwing or breaking unwanted crockery at the doors of friends and neighbors. A large pile of broken plates was traditionally interpreted as evidence of popularity: the more fragments outside a home, the more friends were thought to have visited and wished the residents well.
The custom is often described alongside other Danish New Year's practices, including jumping from a chair at midnight to symbolically leap into the new year. These traditions are separate from the better-known public countdowns and fireworks that many Danes also enjoy.
Descriptions vary by source and region, and the plate-smashing practice is less universal today than it once was. “Old plates” is more precise than “dishes” in this context because the tradition specifically concerns discarded crockery, not a required midnight meal or a particular national food.