155 Fun Facts About Culture

Diwali is best known as the Hindu festival of what?

Lights: families set out rows of clay oil lamps called diyas, which in one tradition recall the lamps that welcomed Rama home to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile.

Which Hindu spring festival celebrates the love of Radha and Krishna with thrown coloured powders?

Holi, the festival of colours, opens with the Holika bonfire and recalls Vishnu's victory as Narasimha over the demon king Hiranyakashipu.

Which skeleton lady in a fancy hat, etched by José Guadalupe Posada, became an icon of Mexico's Day of the Dead?

La Catrina began as satire: Posada drew a skeleton in a fancy French-style hat to mock wealthy Mexicans who copied European fashions, and Diego Rivera later painted her full-length in a mural.

In the Hanukkah story, a one-day supply of what kept the Temple menorah burning for eight days?

Olive oil: the Talmud tells of one sealed jar keeping the Temple lamps lit for eight days after the Maccabees won it back, which is why Hanukkah foods such as latkes and doughnuts are fried in oil.

Chinese New Year celebrations end on the 15th day of the first lunar month with which festival?

The Lantern Festival falls on the year's first full moon; children carry paper lanterns through the streets at night and people try to solve riddles pasted on them.

Despite its name, Munich's Oktoberfest takes place mostly in which month?

September: the festival opens on a Saturday that month, when Munich's mayor taps the first keg and cries 'O'zapft is!', and it ends on the first Sunday in October.

La Tomatina, said to be the world's biggest food fight, is held in which Spanish town?

Buñol, a town of about 9,000 people, was so overrun by tomato-throwers that since 2013 only ticket-holders, around 20,000 of them, may join in.

A kimono is worn left side over right, unless the wearer is what?

Deceased: only the dead are dressed right side over left, for burial, so wrapping a kimono that way on the living is considered very bad luck.

Which garment is a single unstitched length of cloth, wrapped around the waist with one end draped over the shoulder?

The sari is usually five to seven yards long, though some run to nine; it is folded and tucked into a petticoat at the waist to form a long skirt and worn over a short blouse.

Scotland's modern kilt is essentially the lower half of which older garment?

The belted plaid, or great kilt, was a full-length cloth whose top half served as a cloak; after the Jacobite rising, the Dress Act of 1746 outlawed both it and the small kilt as Highland dress.

What does the word 'hanbok' literally mean?

Korean clothing: han is Korea and bok is clothing; once everyday wear, it is now kept mostly for weddings, holidays and family celebrations.

Flamenco developed within the gitano subculture of which Spanish region?

Andalusia is the heartland of flamenco, where Gitano (Roma) families shaped its song, dance and guitar and still hand it down through family dynasties.

Kabuki theatre, traditionally an all-male art, is thought to have been founded by whom?

A female dancer, Izumo no Okuni, began kabuki in Kyoto with a troupe of women; the shogunate later banned women from its stage, so men have played every role since.

Capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian martial art, was classed as what under a Brazilian law of 1890?

A criminal activity: Brazil's 1890 penal code punished practising capoeira in the street with prison, and the ban ended only in the Vargas era, after Mestre Bimba's school won it acceptance.

What is a Māori community's meeting ground, home to its carved meeting house, called?

A marae belongs to an iwi or hapū; visitors wait at its edge until a woman's call, the karanga, invites them on, and the pōwhiri welcome begins.

In medieval Japan, etiquette schools such as the Ogasawara taught which social class the proper way to bow?

The samurai: the Ogasawara school taught warrior houses how to bow, alongside archery and mounted archery, and it still gives lessons in that etiquette today.

The Māori hongi greeting involves doing what?

The hongi is done by pressing noses together, often with foreheads touching, to share the breath of life; it is exchanged at pōwhiri welcome ceremonies.

What does the Sanskrit greeting namaste literally mean?

'I bow to you' joins the Sanskrit namas, a bow, and te, to you; for Hindi speakers today it is simply a polite hello, used most with elders and strangers.

The word 'sauna' comes from which language?

Finnish gave English the word; the sauna was once the cleanest room on a Finnish farm, so women traditionally gave birth there.

Henna body art, or mehndi, uses a dye made from what?

Dried leaves of a shrub, the henna plant, are ground into a paste and painted on the skin, most famously on a bride's hands and feet before her wedding.

A Latin American girl's coming-of-age celebration marks which birthday?

The quinceañera marks a girl's 15th birthday; in one ritual her father swaps her flat shoes for her first high heels, a sign she is stepping into womanhood.

Japan's hanami custom is the enjoyment of what?

Cherry blossoms last only a week or two, so forecasters track the 'cherry blossom front' as it moves north, from Kyushu in late March to Hokkaido in May.

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of what?

Ramadan's month of fasting ends with Eid al-Fitr, a day when fasting is in fact forbidden; before the morning prayer, Muslims give food or money to the poor so that everyone can celebrate.

Nowruz, the Persian New Year, is timed to what?

The spring equinox: Nowruz begins at the exact moment the equinox arrives, so families gather to await a time that changes every year.

Cinco de Mayo commemorates a Mexican victory over which country's army in 1862?

France: General Ignacio Zaragoza's outnumbered Mexican army beat the French at Puebla on 5 May 1862, but France came back a year later, won there and occupied Mexico City.

For roughly how long have chopsticks been used in the Sinosphere?

Chopsticks have been used for over 3,000 years: bronze pairs from the Shang capital at Yinxu date to about 1200 BC. They began in China and spread to Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

What are the red envelopes of cash given at Chinese New Year called in Mandarin?

Hongbao is the Mandarin name, lai see the Cantonese and ang pau the Hokkien; elders give the envelopes to children, and they are red because the colour stands for good luck.

Boxing Day, 26 December, originated where?

The United Kingdom gave the day its name, most likely from the 'Christmas boxes' of money or gifts that tradespeople and servants collected the day after Christmas.

Guy Fawkes Night marks the foiling of a 1605 plot to blow up what?

The Gunpowder Plot targeted the House of Lords at the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605; Fawkes was caught guarding the explosives beneath it.

Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by whom?

Maulana Karenga, a Black nationalist professor, created Kwanzaa in 1966 after the Watts riots, building on African harvest-festival traditions; it runs December 26 to January 1.

Before Hangul was created, what script did Koreans use?

Chinese characters, or Hanja, were hard to learn and left most Koreans unable to read, so King Sejong promulgated Hangul in 1446 as a simpler script of their own.

Which number is widely avoided in East Asia, with buildings often skipping that floor?

4 sounds like the word for death in several East Asian languages, so buildings often skip the fourth floor.

Katajjaq, a throat-singing game played face to face by two women, is a tradition of which people?

The Inuit women who play it trade rhythmic breaths until one laughs or runs out of air and loses; it began as a pastime while the men were away hunting.

The didgeridoo's continuous drone depends on which special technique?

Circular breathing: the player snatches air in through the nose while squeezing air stored in the cheeks out through the lips, so the drone never has to stop.

Ikebana is the Japanese art of what?

Flower arrangement in Japan grew out of the flowers offered at Buddhist altars, a custom that arrived with Buddhism in the 6th century and slowly became an art with its own schools.

The Japanese tea ceremony centres on the preparation of which tea?

Matcha is powdered green tea whisked with hot water in a bowl, a method the Zen monk Eisai carried home from China around 1191, along with tea seeds.

What is the highest rank in professional sumo, usually translated as grand champion?

Yokozuna is the one sumo rank that cannot be lost: a grand champion is never demoted, so one who starts losing is expected to retire instead.

What does 'Mardi Gras' literally mean in French?

Mardi Gras means 'Fat Tuesday', the final day of Carnival and the last chance for rich food before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.

In Alpine folklore, which figure accompanies Saint Nicholas on the night of 5 December to punish naughty children?

Krampus, the horned companion of the Alpine Saint Nicholas, still takes to the streets each December, when young men in fur suits and carved masks chase onlookers in a Krampuslauf, or Krampus run.

In Italian folklore, who flies in on the night of January 5 to bring gifts to children?

La Befana, a witch-like old woman on a broomstick, fills children's stockings, with sweets for the good and coal for the bad.

Spaniards eat twelve of what at midnight on New Year's Eve?

Grapes: one is eaten on each of the twelve midnight chimes for a lucky year, and an oft-told story credits Alicante growers who had a bumper harvest to sell in 1909.

Which Thai festival sets candlelit floats of banana trunk and leaves adrift on rivers under a November full moon?

Loy Krathong is named for the krathongs themselves: each carries a lit candle and incense downstream, and many Thais float one to thank the goddess of water.

The Dragon Boat Festival is best known for commemorating which ancient Chinese figure?

Qu Yuan, a poet and minister, drowned himself in a river; legend says locals raced out in boats to save him and threw rice into the water so the fish would leave his body alone.

According to legend, what did Chinese rebels smuggle inside Mid-Autumn mooncakes during their revolt against Mongol rule?

Secret messages: in the folk tale, the rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang hid notes in the cakes telling people when to rise, and he went on to found the Ming dynasty.

Onam is the official festival of which Indian state?

Kerala's harvest festival welcomes back Mahabali, a legendary king said to visit his old subjects once a year, with flower carpets, feasts and boat races.

The Bantu concept of Ubuntu is often translated as what?

'I am because we are' is one rendering of the Zulu saying umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, a person is a person through other people; Bill Clinton urged Britain's Labour Party to embrace the idea in 2006.

Which Danish word for cosy contentment was shortlisted as Collins Dictionary's word of the year in 2016, losing to 'Brexit'?

Hygge is thought to be a borrowing: it is often traced to a Norwegian word for well-being, and Norwegians still use the word in much the same way.

The word piñata comes from pignatta, meaning 'pot', in which language?

Italian gave Spanish the word, but the custom itself is thought to have come west from China, where a paper ox filled with seeds was beaten open at New Year.

Vaisakhi, the April harvest festival when Sikhs mark the founding of the Khalsa, is celebrated chiefly in which Indian region?

Punjab's old harvest festival took on new meaning in 1699, when Guru Gobind Singh asked a festival crowd for volunteers ready to die for their faith; the five who stepped forward became the first of the Khalsa.

At which Hindu festival do devotees pierce their skin and carry kavadi burdens to honour the god Murugan?

Thaipusam recalls the goddess Parvati handing her son Murugan a spear, the vel, to slay a demon; at Malaysia's Batu Caves, pilgrims carry their burdens up 272 steps.

Which animals run with the fighting bulls in Pamplona each morning to keep the herd moving along the route?

Steers run the route every morning, while a fresh set of bulls appears each day, so the steers guide the newcomers through the streets to the bullring.

Which bright orange flower is used to decorate altars and graves during Mexico's Day of the Dead?

The Mexican marigold, cempasúchil, decorates home altars called ofrendas that hold the favourite foods and drinks of the departed; its scent is said to guide spirits home.

Which Japanese festival on 3 March displays tiered sets of ornamental dolls?

Hinamatsuri, or Girls' Day, falls on 3 March; families display tiered sets of hina dolls representing the Heian-era imperial court to wish their daughters health and happiness.

Thailand's Songkran new-year festival is famous for what?

Songkran is famous for its public water fights; the splashing grew from the ritual pouring of water over Buddha images and elders' hands to wash away the old year.

The first Oktoberfest, in 1810, was held to celebrate what?

A royal wedding: Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese on 12 October 1810, and the meadow where Munich celebrated is still called the Theresienwiese after her.

The famous running of the bulls takes place in Pamplona during a festival honouring which saint?

Fermin gives the festival its name: San Fermín runs from 6 to 14 July, and Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises turned its bull run into a worldwide draw.

What is the symbolic table set by Iranian families for Nowruz called?

The haft-sin table holds seven items whose Persian names begin with the letter S (sin), such as sabzeh (sprouts) and sib (apple); Nowruz itself has Zoroastrian roots.

Which Korean harvest festival sends families back to ancestral hometowns to tidy graves and share songpyeon rice cakes?

Chuseok is often called Korean Thanksgiving; a saying holds that whoever shapes the prettiest half-moon songpyeon will meet a good spouse or have a beautiful baby.

Kwanzaa, first celebrated in 1966, takes its name from a phrase in which language?

Kwanzaa comes from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, 'first fruits'; an extra 'a' was added so the name would have a symbolic seven letters.

France's national day on 14 July commemorates the storming of which building in 1789?

The Bastille held only seven prisoners when the crowd stormed it for its arms and gunpowder; 14 July became France's national holiday in 1880.

What is traditionally eaten in Britain on Shrove Tuesday?

Pancakes use up eggs, milk and fat before the Lenten fast; Olney in Buckinghamshire traces its pancake race to 1445, when a housewife is said to have run to church still clutching her frying pan.

Boxing Day, 26 December, coincides with which saint's feast?

26 December is the feast of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr; one theory traces the name Boxing Day to church alms boxes opened for the poor on that feast.

Trick-or-treating grew out of 'guising', a house-to-house Halloween custom from which two countries?

Scotland and Ireland sent the custom abroad: guisers went door to door in costume, earning food or coins with a song or verse, and the cry 'trick or treat' was first recorded in Canada.

In Tibetan tradition, briefly sticking out the tongue is a sign of what?

A respectful greeting: by legend, Tibetans show their tongues to prove they are not a reincarnation of Langdarma, a cruel ninth-century king said to have had a black tongue.

The gesture used with the Indian greeting 'namaste' is called what?

Añjali Mudrā needs no touch, so in 2020 figures such as Prince Charles and Donald Trump used it in place of a handshake during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Thai custom, which of two people meeting offers the wai greeting first?

The younger person, or the junior in rank, offers the wai first because the gesture acknowledges seniority; the elder returns it, and the higher the hands are held, the more respect is shown.

In Japanese etiquette, the eshaku bow of about 15 degrees suits which situation?

Passing a colleague calls for the eshaku; clients and superiors get about 30 degrees, and an apology goes to 45 degrees or deeper and is held for longer.

What is the wide sash tied around a kimono called?

The obi began as a narrow cord and was first tied at the front; as it widened into today's broad sash, the bulky knot moved round to the back.

What is the pouch worn at the front of a kilt called?

A sporran, from the Gaelic for purse, hangs at the front of a kilt because the garment has no pockets; the sgian-dubh is the small knife tucked into the sock.

Kente cloth, woven in strips of silk and cotton, is officially recognised as a product of which country?

Ghana is home to the weaving town of Bonwire, where legend says two friends learned to make kente by studying how a spider spun its web.

The áo dài, a long split tunic worn over silk trousers, is the traditional dress of which country?

The áo dài is Vietnam's national dress; its name means 'long tunic', and the modern fitted form was shaped by Hanoi designers in the 1930s.

The fez was banned in 1925 in which country, as part of a modernising 'Hat Revolution'?

Turkey's Hat Law of 1925 under Atatürk banned the fez; a century earlier, in 1829, Sultan Mahmud II had ordered officials to wear the fez in place of turbans.

Why are chopsticks never left standing upright in a bowl of rice?

It resembles incense offered to the dead: upright chopsticks recall the sticks burned for the departed, and in Japan rice with chopsticks standing in it is set on the altar only at funerals.

Haggis became Scotland's national dish largely thanks to the 1786 poem 'Address to a Haggis', by which poet?

Robert Burns's 'Address to a Haggis' is recited at Burns suppers each 25 January, where the dish is served with neeps, tatties and a dram.

Poutine, fries with cheese curds and gravy, emerged in the 1950s in which Canadian province?

Poutine emerged in rural Quebec in the late 1950s; Warwick and Drummondville, in the Centre-du-Québec region, both claim to have invented it.

Vegemite, the dark Australian spread, is made from what?

Vegemite is a brewers' yeast extract, made from leftover yeast from beer-making; Cyril Callister developed it in Melbourne in 1922 as a home-grown rival to Britain's Marmite.

In flamenco, what is the rhythmic hand-clapping accompaniment called?

Palmas come in two kinds: sharp, loud claps for fast footwork, and muffled claps with cupped hands during the singing, so the voice is not drowned out.

Tango was born in the 1880s in the port areas along which river?

Tango grew up in the 1880s in the port districts of Buenos Aires and Montevideo on the Río de la Plata; Argentina and Uruguay jointly got it onto UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2009.

Capoeira is played in a circle called a roda to the music of which bow-shaped instrument?

Berimbau: the master of the roda usually plays this single-string bow, starting the chants and setting the timing and rhythm of the game for the two players.

The All Blacks' pre-match 'Ka Mate', composed by the chief Te Rauparaha around 1820, is which kind of Māori performance?

Haka are Māori ceremonial dances, and Te Rauparaha composed Ka Mate to celebrate life over death after escaping his pursuers by hiding in a kūmara storage pit.

Sumo wrestlers throw what into the ring before a bout?

Salt is tossed to purify the ring, a ritual sumo keeps from its Shinto roots; a bout is lost by stepping out or touching down with anything but the soles of the feet.

Muay Thai is nicknamed the 'Art of Eight Limbs' because fighters strike with fists, elbows, knees and what?

The eight limbs are two fists, two elbows, two knees and two shins, with kicks landed on the shin rather than the foot; fighters enter the ring wearing a mongkhon headband and pra jiad armbands.

Which Highland games event flips a long tapered pole end over end?

Caber toss scoring rewards straightness, not distance: the ideal throw flips the log end over end to land pointing directly away from the thrower, at 12 o'clock.

Which animal's skull is carried door to door in the Welsh midwinter custom Mari Lwyd?

The Mari Lwyd is a horse's skull mounted on a pole and draped in a sheet, carried door to door in south Wales with rhyming verse contests for food and drink.

The sport of wife-carrying, with its annual world championship in Sonkajärvi, began in which country?

Finland hosts the world championship each July in Sonkajärvi, where the popular 'Estonian carry' has the wife hanging upside-down on the runner's back.

Which Jewish coming-of-age ceremony does a girl traditionally mark at 12?

Bat mitzvah as a public ceremony is a modern addition: Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan held the first one in the United States for his daughter Judith in 1922.

What is the red powder applied along a married Hindu woman's hair parting called?

Sindoor, a vermilion powder, is applied along the parting of a married Hindu woman's hair, first by the groom during the wedding; the mangalsutra is the necklace he ties.

The blue-and-white glass 'nazar' amulet, sold from Istanbul to Athens, protects against what?

The evil eye is a curse said to be cast by an envious glare; a nazar is still a customary gift for a newborn, as babies are thought most at risk.

What is Sweden's daily coffee-and-pastry break called?

Fika is a daily fixture in many Swedish workplaces, and the word works as a verb too: colleagues 'fika' together over coffee and a cinnamon bun.

The southern African philosophy of ubuntu takes its name from a Bantu word meaning what?

Ubuntu means 'humanity' or 'humanness' in Nguni Bantu languages such as Zulu and Xhosa; Desmond Tutu's ubuntu theology shaped South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Hawaii's Lei Day, honouring the flower garland, falls on which older spring holiday?

May Day was the choice of Honolulu columnist Grace Tower Warren, who took up poet Don Blanding's idea of a day for wearing leis and coined the slogan 'May Day is Lei Day'.

Russia's matryoshka nesting dolls were shown to the world at the 1900 world's fair held in which city?

Paris hosted the 1900 fair; Vasily Zvyozdochkin had carved the first set in the 1890s to Sergey Malyutin's design, and soon after the showing the dolls were being shipped around the world.

The seven points of Mexico's traditional star-shaped piñata are said to stand for what?

The seven deadly sins were the lesson: friars at Acolman are said to have used the piñata to teach catechism, with the blindfolded player standing for faith.

Yodeling is thought to have started in the Central Alps for what practical purpose?

Calling herds and villages is the usual account: herders yodelled to summon their stock and signal between Alpine settlements, as the leaps between low and high voice carry across valleys.

Mongolia's midsummer Naadam festival is built around wrestling, archery and which third sport?

Naadam's 'three games of men' are wrestling, archery and horse racing, with child jockeys riding cross-country races of 15 to 30 km; UNESCO listed the festival in 2010.

Shetland's Up Helly Aa fire festival climaxes with the burning of what?

An imitation Viking galley is escorted through Lerwick by almost a thousand torch-bearing guizers, who then hurl their torches into it; the festival grew out of rowdy tar-barrel dragging.

At Hogmanay, what kind of person is traditionally preferred as a household's 'first-foot'?

Tradition holds that a tall, dark-haired man is the luckiest first-foot; the first person over the threshold after midnight sets the year's luck and brings gifts such as coal, shortbread, whisky and black bun.

Timkat, celebrated on 19 January, is the Ethiopian Orthodox festival of what?

Timkat is the Ethiopian Orthodox Epiphany, commemorating the baptism of Jesus: priests carry the Tabot, a model of the Ark of the Covenant, in procession and worshippers are sprinkled with blessed water.

Bulgarians wear red-and-white martenitsa yarn charms from 1 March until they first see what?

A stork or a swallow, or a tree in blossom, tells the wearer spring has come; the red-and-white thread is thought to protect against fickle weather on the way out of winter.

In Dutch tradition, Sinterklaas arrives each year by steamboat from which country?

Spain and the steamboat were fixed in the tradition by Amsterdam teacher Jan Schenkman's 1850 picture book, which showed Sinterklaas arriving by ship with a servant.

Which deep-fried treat do the Dutch traditionally eat on New Year's Eve?

Oliebollen, deep-fried dough balls dusted with icing sugar, crossed the Atlantic with Dutch settlers as 'olykoeks' and are widely credited as forerunners of the American doughnut.

Batik cloth is patterned using what as a dye resist?

Wax is drawn or stamped onto the cloth so the dye cannot reach it; UNESCO inscribed Indonesian batik on 2 October 2009, a date Indonesia marks as Batik Day.

Whose 1817 History of Java first made batik widely known outside Southeast Asia?

Thomas Stamford Raffles, who governed Java from 1811 to 1816, published The History of Java in 1817; its account of batik sparked collecting and scholarly study of the craft in Europe.

The Inca festival Inti Raymi, held each June in Cusco, honoured the sun god at which event?

The winter solstice falls in June south of the equator, so Inti Raymi greeted the returning sun; the last one led by an Inca emperor came in 1535, before the Spanish banned it.

Which Valencian festival in March burns giant satirical sculptures built from figures called ninots?

Las Fallas ends on 19 March, the feast of Saint Joseph, when the sculptures burn in the cremà; each year one ninot is spared by popular vote and kept in a museum.

Which toy brand, started by a carpenter in Billund in 1932, has a name meaning 'play well' in Danish?

Lego squeezes together the Danish words 'leg godt'. Ole Kirk Christiansen began by making wooden toys, and the plastic bricks only came years later.

Which Italian word for both hello and goodbye comes from a Venetian phrase meaning 'I am your slave'?

Ciao shrank from the Venetian 's-ciào vostro', and the word for slave inside it is itself related to 'Slav'. The greeting only spread across northern Italy in the late 1800s.

The indoor decorated Christmas tree grew up as a custom among Protestant families in which country?

Germany passed the tree on through its princes: after Queen Victoria married her German cousin Albert, wealthy families hurried to copy the royal fashion.

The English weekday Thursday takes its name from which god in Norse mythology?

Thor shares the day with Jupiter: the Romans named it for their own thunder god, which is why Italians still call it 'giovedì'.

Modern pizza, including the Margherita said to honour a queen, was born in which Italian city?

Naples sold pizza from open-air stands until about 1830, when its pizzerias first added tables so that customers could sit down and eat on the spot.

Anansi, the trickster of West African and Caribbean folktales, usually takes the form of which creature?

A spider who wins by wit rather than strength, Anansi crossed the Atlantic with enslaved Africans, which is why his stories are still told in Jamaica and Suriname.

Which Afro-Brazilian music and dance do rival 'schools' parade to at the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro?

Samba schools are not schools at all: each is a club of local neighbours who join up to parade together with their own floats and costumes.

Captain Cook's voyages brought the word 'tattoo' into English from the languages of which region?

Polynesia supplied the word as 'tatau', heard in Tahiti and Samoa. Until then, Europeans could only describe the practice as painting, scarring or staining.

Where in Oceania did the Rapa Nui people carve nearly 1,000 giant stone statues called moai?

Easter Island owes its European name to the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who came upon it on Easter Sunday in 1722.

Hummus, the Levantine dip blended with tahini, takes its name from the Arabic for which legume?

Chickpeas are the whole name: the dish's full Arabic title, 'hummus bi tahina', simply means 'chickpeas with tahini'.

Which Hawaiian word, said on meeting and on parting, more deeply means love, compassion and mercy?

Aloha is even written into law: Hawaii's Aloha Spirit law of 1986 tells state officials and judges to treat the public with it.

The Hajj, a pilgrimage Muslims are obliged to make once in their lifetime if able, leads to which city?

Mecca holds the Kaaba, which sets the direction of prayer for Muslims everywhere; the earliest Muslims prayed towards Jerusalem instead.

New Zealanders are nicknamed after which flightless bird, a national symbol of their country?

Kiwi only became a name for the people around 1917; until the First World War the bird stood for the country itself, not its citizens.

Jacob and Wilhelm, the scholar brothers who published 'Hansel and Gretel' and 'Rapunzel', are known by which name?

Grimm fairy tales were a scholars' project: the brothers were linguists, and in 1838 they began a huge dictionary that neither lived to finish.

Which alphabet, named in honour of a 9th-century saint, is used to write Russian, Serbian and Mongolian?

Cyrillic honours Saint Cyril, yet it was probably devised by his followers at a school in the Bulgarian Empire rather than by the missionary himself.

Which Korean martial art, an Olympic sport since 2000, has a name combining 'foot', 'hand' and 'the way'?

Taekwondo students also train in 'gyeokpa', the art of breaking wooden boards, alongside the set patterns of kicks, punches and blocks.

Which United Nations agency keeps the World Heritage List of places such as the Taj Mahal and Machu Picchu?

UNESCO learned the job by rescue: its 1960 campaign to save the temples of Nubia went so well that Egypt gave four temples away as thank-you gifts.

Fondue, melted cheese eaten from a shared pot, was promoted in the 1930s as which country's national dish?

Switzerland's cheese union pushed fondue as a way to sell more cheese, though a recipe published in 1875 was already calling it a Swiss national dish.

Which flat, cracker-like bread do Jewish families eat during Passover, recalling a hurried escape from Egypt?

Matzo recalls the Exodus story, in which the Israelites fled so fast that their dough had no time to rise. In strict Ashkenazi tradition not even egg or fruit juice may enrich it.

Which river of northern India, worshipped as a goddess, do Hindus hold more sacred than any other?

The Ganges is worshipped as the goddess Ganga, and a dip in the river at a holy city such as Varanasi is thought to wash away sins.

Which plant is Saint Patrick said to have used to explain the Holy Trinity?

Shamrock comes from the Gaelic 'seamróg', which simply means 'young clover'; other three-leaved plants, such as wood sorrel, are sometimes given the name too.

Arabic script, written in a flowing cursive style, is read in which direction?

Right to left is only half of it: most Arabic letters also change shape depending on whether they stand alone or join the letter beside them.

In which Nordic country do the mischievous Yule Lads leave gifts, or a rotten potato, in children's shoes?

Iceland's Yule Lads are the sons of the ogress Grýla, who is said to cook naughty children in a large pot, and they come to town one by one before Christmas.

Jazz grew up in the African-American communities of which Louisiana city in the late 1800s?

New Orleans jazz prizes the performer over the composer: improvisation, swing and call-and-response matter more than any written tune.

From which tower beside a mosque does a muezzin traditionally give the call to prayer, five times a day?

A minaret can be anything from a thick, squat tower to a pencil-thin spire, and it doubles as a landmark that announces the mosque from afar.

In Inuit dialects across the Canadian Arctic, the word 'iglu' covers not just snow houses but what?

All buildings count as an iglu there, from tents and sod houses to modern homes; a house built of snow has a word of its own, 'igluvijaq'.

Totem poles, carved from red cedar to record family lineage, belong to the Indigenous peoples of which region?

The Pacific Northwest's poles were never worshipped, whatever the myth says: some welcomed visitors to a village, and others were raised to ridicule someone in public.

Which calendar, now used in most of the world, was introduced by a pope in October 1582?

The Gregorian calendar repaired the older Julian one by dropping three leap years every four centuries: 1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 was.

Which round, felt-covered tent have the nomads of Mongolia and Central Asia lived in for thousands of years?

A yurt is built to move: its lattice walls fold up and the parts travel on camels or yaks, while the felt comes from the wool of the herders' own sheep.

The gaucho, a wandering horseman skilled at cattle work, is a folk symbol mainly of Uruguay and which other country?

Argentina's gauchos were migratory horsemen of mixed descent in the 18th and 19th centuries, and they were reputed to be brave and unruly.

The steelpan, born from Carnival percussion bands in the 1930s, is the national instrument of which Caribbean country?

Trinidad and Tobago's street percussionists reappeared in Laventille in 1937 as an orchestra of frying pans, dustbin lids and oil drums.

In 'One Thousand and One Nights', which storyteller saves her life by spinning King Shahryar a chain of tales?

Scheherazade keeps her stories interlinked for 1,001 nights, and her suspense slowly turns a vengeful ruler into a just and stable king.

In West Africa, what is the name for a traditional storyteller, praise singer and keeper of oral history?

A griot is known as a 'jali' or 'jeli' in the Manding languages, and the role often runs in families, who hand the oral histories down from one generation to the next.

Which South Asian contact sport has a 'raider' chant its name on a single breath while tagging defenders?

Kabaddi is the national sport of Bangladesh, and the chant is there to prove to the referees that the raider has not sneaked a second breath.

Which Indigenous people, whose northern homeland was once called Lapland, are best known for herding reindeer?

The Sámi have reindeer herding legally reserved for them in parts of the Nordic countries, and their homeland, Sápmi, stretches across four nations.

Which Southeast Asian sport is like volleyball played with the feet, using a ball woven from rattan?

Sepak takraw got its modern rules in 1960, when officials from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar met in Kuala Lumpur to agree on a single name.

Gamelan, a percussion orchestra of the Javanese and Balinese peoples, is the traditional music of which country?

Indonesia's gamelan is built around metallophones struck with mallets, while a set of hand drums called kendang keeps the beat.

What is the coloured dot worn on the centre of the forehead in South Asia, said to mark the third eye?

A bindi takes its name from the Sanskrit 'bindu', meaning a point or drop, and these days it is often a stick-on sticker.

Which Indigenous language of the Andes was the main tongue of the Inca Empire and still has millions of speakers?

Quechua is the most widely spoken pre-Columbian language family of the Americas, and it was already spreading through the mountains centuries before the Incas rose.

While mourners in the West wear black, which colour is traditional for mourning in Chinese culture?

White clothes and hats were long tied to funerals in Chinese tradition, and mourning duties were so strict that even an emperor had to retire from public affairs.

The European dragon breathes fire, but the Chinese dragon is a lucky spirit with power over which element?

Water and weather are the Chinese dragon's realm: it is honoured as a rain deity, and its five-clawed form was once reserved for the emperor alone.

In China and Korea, unlike most of the West, which part of a person's name is written first?

The surname leads across East Asia, which is why Europeans call it the Eastern naming order, yet Hungary, in the heart of Europe, does the same.

Western star signs change roughly monthly, but the Chinese zodiac gives each of its twelve animals a whole what?

A year apiece means the cycle takes twelve years to come round, and folk belief holds that your birth animal shapes your personality.

Which utensil, the West's answer to chopsticks, came to western Europe from the Byzantine Empire in the Middle Ages?

The fork caught on first in Italy, where its prongs suited pasta; a Byzantine princess is said to have astonished a western court by eating with one.

The West's Golden Rule has a mirror image in the 'Silver Rule' taught by which ancient Chinese philosopher?

Confucius put it in the negative: 'Do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself.' He also made a strong family the cornerstone of good government.

Which ancient Chinese concept pictures opposite forces, such as light and dark, as complementary halves of one whole?

Yin and yang are down-to-earth words at heart: yin carries senses such as 'cloudy' and 'shady', while yang means 'sunny'.

Which floor number do many Western hotels and high-rises skip, out of a fear called triskaidekaphobia?

13 gets dodged in several ways: the level may be labelled 14, called 'M' after the thirteenth letter of the alphabet, or closed off as a mechanical floor.

Western birthdays mean cake, but which food do Chinese families eat on a birthday as a wish for long life?

Noodles stand in for the years ahead, so tradition holds that the chef must not cut them and that each strand should be eaten whole.

Which 1978 book by the critic Edward Said argued that the West portrayed the 'East' as primitive and inferior?

Orientalism became a founding text of postcolonial studies, the field that examines how Western ways of thinking kept their hold on former colonies.

Which four-player game, developed in 19th-century China, is typically played with a set of 144 tiles?

Mahjong is a young classic: after taking shape in the 1800s, the game needed only a few decades to spread around the world in the early 20th century.