Some of the bizarre things do happen in some parts of the world. We would advise you not to worry about why they do it, but we can tell you how that tradition started. You might be startled, you might not.
If you are familiar with a level of craziness, then this wouldn’t be a big deal to you. If you break plates regularly, this would make sense to you. But please look around before you smash the plates against the wall and protect yourself.
In some parts of the world, they ring in the New Year with some very choice rituals indeed. In Spain, people mark the occasion by eating a grape every chime of mid
night, meanwhile the Irish bang loaves of bread on their doors and walls, and in Turkey, it is customary to wear red undies beneath your party outfit for good luck.
The Danes are no strangers to quaint, some may say bizarre, New Year’s Eve traditions. Looking for a way to bring good luck? The Danes sure have a unique way
of doing so. During the year, people in Denmark save any broken dishes, plates, cups, or bowls until New Year’s Eve.
On the New Year, they throw the broken dishware at the homes of friends and family as a way to wish them good luck for the New Year. A less aggressive way to w
ish good luck is to simply leave a pile of broken plates on the doorstep of a loved one.
dates back centuries and is one of the more unique ways to ring in the New Year. What would normally be considered vandalism, the Danish have a very old tradi
tion of breaking dishes on the doorsteps of family and friends on New Year’s Eve.
In fact, this tradition is carried out in many European countries, and ultimately measures your good fortune in terms of the number of friends you have! The more dishes that are broken and piled up at your door on January 1st, the more friends and good fortune you have.
I
n Denmark, the dish and porcelain manufacturers empty their warehouses of seconds in the weeks leading up to New Year’s Eve. Trucks arrive at towns and villages days before December 31st, and residents stockpile cracked, chipped, or broken plates.
As the clock strikes midnight
, people run around smashing plates against each other’s doors. While the original custom involves the satisfaction of hurling the dish at someone’s front door or at their stoop, nowadays, some less violent people pre-break their plates and put the
fragment or fragments at the doorways of family, friends, and neighbors. The bigger the pile you end up with, the more luck you will have in the upcoming year!
