Denmark is known for the New Year’s Eve custom of smashing old plates outside friends’ homes.
In the traditional practice, people saved unwanted crockery and threw it against the doors of friends or neighbors at New Year. A large pile of broken plates was interpreted as evidence that a household had many loyal friends willing to visit and celebrate with it. The custom was especially associated with Danish New Year folklore.
Modern celebrations vary, and the plate-smashing tradition is less common than it once was. Concerns about cleanup, safety, and changing household habits have made many people favor symbolic or organized celebrations instead. It should therefore be treated as a traditional custom, not a universal behavior in present-day Denmark.
Denmark also has other recognizable New Year traditions, including a televised monarch’s speech and the dessert-like marzipan ring cake called kransekage. Those customs are separate from the plate tradition. The distinctive detail is the deliberate breaking of old plates outside friends’ homes, not ordinary accidental breakage during a party.