Which New Year's Eve tradition in Denmark involves jumping off a chair at midnight for good luck?

The Danish tradition of jumping off a chair at midnight is known as jumping into the New Year. At the stroke of midnight, participants may stand on chairs or other raised surfaces and leap down, symbolically entering the new year with luck.

The custom is part of a broader Danish New Year's Eve celebration that can include a televised monarch's New Year's address, fireworks, festive meals, and champagne. It is a playful household ritual rather than a formal religious ceremony, and not every person in Denmark follows it.

Danish celebrations also have other distinctive customs. Some people break old plates and dishes outside friends' or neighbors' homes as a sign of affection and popularity, although this practice is less universal than the midnight jump. The chair ritual is best understood as a symbolic gesture, not a claim that jumping physically changes one's fortune.