In Denmark, old plates are traditionally smashed against walls during New Year's Eve celebrations.
The custom involves saving unwanted crockery and throwing it against the doors or walls of friends’ homes. A pile of broken plates outside a house is traditionally interpreted as a sign that the household has many friends, because the pieces represent visits from people wishing the residents well.
This practice is an example of a European New Year custom in which noise and breakage symbolize driving away bad luck or marking a clean break with the old year. It is not an instruction to damage public property or valuable dishes; traditionally, people use old or unwanted tableware. Danish celebrations also include fireworks and the midnight broadcast of the monarch’s New Year speech. The plate-smashing custom may be less common today than its famous descriptions suggest, but it remains a widely recognized Danish New Year tradition.