Plates are traditionally smashed at midnight during Denmark's New Year's celebrations.
The custom involves throwing old or unwanted crockery against the doors of friends, relatives, or neighbors. A pile of broken plates outside a home is traditionally interpreted as a sign that the household has many loyal friends. The practice is sometimes described as a way of entering the new year with a symbolic clean slate.
The Danish custom is associated with older Scandinavian beliefs about noise and destruction driving away bad luck or hostile forces. It is not a universal practice in Denmark today, and modern celebrations often emphasize fireworks, parties, and the New Year's speech by the monarch instead.
The tradition is easy to confuse with other New Year's customs involving breakable objects. In some countries, people smash effigies, release plates or pottery, or break glasses at special occasions, but the Danish association is specifically with plates thrown at doors. Accounts also differ on how commonly people practice it in contemporary Denmark.