109 Fun Facts About Holidays Around the World

Diwali commemorates which figure's return to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana?

Rama: tradition says Ayodhya's citizens lit up the streets with diyas to welcome him home after 14 years of exile.

Which festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month ends Chinese New Year celebrations?

The Lantern Festival: it was once one of the few nights young women were allowed out, to admire lanterns and perhaps meet a suitor.

What are the home altars built for Mexico's Day of the Dead called?

Ofrendas: families deck them with cempasúchil marigolds, whose bright colour and scent are believed to guide the souls of the dead to the altar.

Holi, the Hindu festival of colours, celebrates the love between which two deities?

Radha and Krishna: legend says Krishna feared Radha would reject him for his skin colour, until his mother suggested a game of colouring faces.

Songkran, the Thai New Year festival, is famous for what public activity?

Water fights: they grew from pouring water over Buddha images and elders' hands, a gesture meant to wash away the old year's misfortune.

Eid al-Fitr traditionally begins once people sight what in the evening sky?

A crescent moon: each Islamic month begins when the new crescent appears, so the date of Eid, the first day of Shawwal, can't be fixed long in advance.

Hanukkah's eight nights recall one day's supply of what lasting eight days?

Oil: rabbinic tradition says one cruse kept the Temple menorah lit for eight days, which is why Jews eat foods fried in oil, such as latkes.

Kwanzaa, the African American holiday created in 1966, takes its name from which language?

Swahili: Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa after the Watts riots as a community-building holiday, naming it from matunda ya kwanza, 'first fruits'.

Rio de Janeiro's Carnival parade is a contest between schools of which dance?

Samba: each school, rooted in a local neighbourhood, spends months building floats and rehearsing for one judged parade in the Sambadrome.

Which German festival began in 1810 as the celebration of a Bavarian royal wedding?

Oktoberfest: the wedding's race was run again the following year, and that decision turned a one-off celebration into a tradition.

Bastille Day marks the storming of a Paris fortress that was being used as what?

A prison: yet when Parisians stormed the Bastille on 14 July 1789 it held just seven prisoners, and they mainly wanted its gunpowder.

Guy Fawkes was arrested in 1605 while guarding explosives placed beneath what?

The House of Lords: the plotters meant to kill James I at the State Opening, and Londoners lit bonfires to celebrate his survival, the root of Bonfire Night.

Midsummer celebrations in Europe were traditionally fixed to the feast day of which biblical figure on 24 June?

John the Baptist: the Gospel of Luke puts his birth six months before Jesus's, so his feast falls opposite Christmas, with 'St John's fires' lit on its eve.

During Japan's Obon festival, families make horses from cucumbers and cows from aubergines for whom?

Their ancestors: the swift cucumber horse brings their spirits home quickly, while the slow aubergine cow carries them back to the other world at a gentle pace.

On Seollal, Korean New Year, children bow deeply to their elders and are given what?

Money: elders hand out New Year money, sebaetdon, and pass on deokdam, words of wisdom.

La Tomatina, the tomato-throwing festival, is held in which town?

Buñol: when authorities banned the tomato fight in the 1950s, locals protested in 1957 with a mock funeral, carrying a coffin with a giant tomato inside.

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

The spring equinox: Nowruz heralds the arrival of spring, so families give their homes a thorough clean and buy new clothes before it begins.

During Thailand's Loy Krathong festival, decorated baskets are floated on rivers to thank whom?

The goddess of water: people thank Phra Mae Khongkha for the year's water and ask forgiveness for using it, while many also honour the Buddha.

On Saint Lucy's Day, 13 December, girls in Sweden lead processions wearing what on their heads?

A crown of candles: the Lucia's white gown recalls the saint's purity, and her red sash the blood of her martyrdom.

In much of Europe, 26 December is the feast of which early Christian martyr?

Stephen: remembered as the first Christian martyr, he was stoned to death and died praying that his killers be forgiven.

Waitangi Day marks an 1840 treaty between the British and which people?

The Māori: the English text has chiefs ceding sovereignty, but the Māori text grants only kāwanatanga, governorship, which is why the treaty is still contested.

Australia Day on 26 January marks the 1788 landing of what?

The First Fleet: Arthur Phillip judged Botany Bay unsuitable, so he moved the fleet north to Sydney Cove, where the flag was raised on 26 January.

Canada Day was known by what name until 1982?

Dominion Day: the 1982 rename began as a private member's bill, which sped through the Commons.

Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexico's 1862 victory over which country at the Battle of Puebla?

France: the win was short-lived, as French forces pressed on and installed Maximilian as Mexico's emperor.

Which island, nicknamed the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean, observes Saint Patrick's Day as a public holiday?

Montserrat: the holiday also commemorates a failed uprising by enslaved people on 17 March 1768, alongside the island's Irish heritage.

In Alpine folklore, Krampus punishes naughty children on 5 December with what?

Birch rods: Krampus swats naughty children with a bundle of birch branches, and the basket on his back is, in legend, for carting the worst away.

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

Spain: each November his steamboat 'arrives' in a different Dutch town, and the national welcome is broadcast live on television.

Purim celebrates the foiling of Haman's plot, as told in which book of the Bible?

Esther: Haman picked the date by casting lots, pur, which gave Purim its name, and he was hanged on the gallows he had built for Mordecai.

Passover commemorates the Israelites' Exodus from slavery in which land?

Egypt: the Israelites left in such haste that their dough had no time to rise, which is why matzah, unleavened bread, is eaten at Passover.

Vesak commemorates three events in the life of the Buddha: his birth, his death, and what?

His enlightenment: tradition holds that his birth, awakening and death all fell on the same day, which is why one festival marks all three.

Ramadan's daily fast ends at sunset with which meal?

Iftar: families traditionally open it by eating dates, recalling the Prophet Muhammad's practice of breaking the fast with dates.

Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, is known in English as the Day of what?

Atonement: tradition says God seals each person's verdict for the year as Yom Kippur ends, so Jews spend it fasting and praying for forgiveness.

What instrument is sounded in synagogues on Rosh Hashanah?

The shofar, a ram's horn, isn't sounded when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbat, since rabbis feared someone might carry it in public.

On Setsubun, what do Japanese people traditionally throw to drive out demons?

Beans: people throw them shouting 'devils out, fortune in', then eat one bean for each year of their age.

Japan's Golden Week opens on 29 April with a holiday honouring which emperor, who reigned through World War II?

Hirohito: after his death in 1989 the day became Greenery Day, honouring the wartime emperor's love of plants.

Pongal, the Tamil harvest festival, is named after a rice dish made by doing what?

Boiling it over: families boil new rice in milk until it spills over the pot, shouting 'Pongalo Pongal', since the overflow signals abundance.

Which civilisation's sun festival, Inti Raymi, is re-enacted every June in Cusco?

The Incas: colonial authorities banned the festival as pagan, and today's pageant at Sacsayhuamán is a reconstruction staged since 1944.

In Scotland's Hogmanay tradition of first-footing, what kind of guest is thought to bring the best luck?

A tall, dark-haired man: the first-foot sets the year's luck and traditionally brings gifts such as coal for warmth, shortbread for food and whisky for cheer.

Canadian Thanksgiving is held on which day?

It has been an official annual holiday since 1879; the current date was fixed by proclamation in 1957.

Mardi Gras is French for what?

Fat Tuesday: people used up eggs, milk and fat before the Lenten fast, which is why many English speakers call the day Pancake Day.

Epiphany, on 6 January, commemorates whose visit to the infant Jesus?

The Magi: in Mexico a ring cake baked for the day hides a baby figurine, and whoever finds it must host a tamale party on 2 February.

Anzac Day on 25 April marks the 1915 landing of Australian and New Zealand troops on which peninsula?

Gallipoli: the campaign failed and the troops were eventually evacuated, yet the landing became a founding moment of Australian and New Zealand identity.

Which pastry is traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival?

Mooncakes: a folk tale says rebels hid messages inside them to coordinate the uprising that overthrew China's Mongol rulers.

The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates which ancient Chinese minister and poet?

Qu Yuan: legend says that when he drowned himself in the Miluo River, villagers raced out in boats to save him and threw rice into the river to keep fish from his body.

Besides wrestling and archery, which sport completes the 'three games of men' at Mongolia's Naadam festival?

Horse racing: even the two-year-old that finishes last is greeted with a song wishing it luck.

Ethiopia's Timkat processions carry the Tabot, a model of what?

The Ark of the Covenant: a tabot rests on every Ethiopian Orthodox altar, and since only priests may see it uncovered, it travels wrapped in rich cloth.

On Nyepi, Bali's silent new year, what happens to the island's international airport?

It closes for the whole day: Nyepi's rules forbid work, travel and the use of fire or light across the island.

Zurich's spring holiday Sechseläuten climaxes with the burning of the Böögg, an effigy of what?

A snowman: the Böögg stands for winter, and the faster its explosive-packed head blows off, the warmer the coming summer is said to be.

Many Halloween traditions are thought to derive from Samhain, a harvest festival of which people?

The Gaelic Celts: they held that spirits crossed over easily at Samhain, and wearing costumes may have been a way to disguise oneself from them.

Up Helly Aa, held in Lerwick at the end of January, ends with the burning of what?

An imitation Viking galley: after singing the Up Helly Aa song, the guizers throw their torches into it, and a new galley is built every winter.

Burns Night is celebrated on 25 January because it is what?

The poet's birthday: yet the first Burns Supper, held by nine friends at his cottage in 1801, marked the fifth anniversary of his death.

White Day, held on 14 March in Japan, was created for men to do what?

Return Valentine's gifts: in Japan it is women who give chocolates on 14 February, so the confectionery industry launched an 'answer day' a month later.

The Chinese Qingming Festival, held around 4-6 April, is known in English by what name?

Tomb-Sweeping Day: it absorbed the Cold Food Festival, said to honour Jie Zitui, a loyal courtier who died when his lord set a forest on fire to smoke him out.

Which founding father was the principal author of the Declaration celebrated on the Fourth of July?

Thomas Jefferson: Congress struck out his draft's attack on the slave trade, a cut he later said was made to please South Carolina and Georgia.

Tết is the lunar new year festival of which country?

Vietnam: in 1968 communist forces broke the holiday calm with the surprise Tet Offensive, a military defeat that still turned American opinion against the war.

Vaisakhi, the April harvest festival, is celebrated chiefly in which Indian region?

Punjab: Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa on Vaisakhi in 1699, and in 1919 British troops fired on a crowd gathered in Amritsar on the festival.

Which cave temple near Kuala Lumpur is the focal point of Malaysia's Thaipusam festival?

Batu Caves: many devotees carry kavadis there, portable altars attached to the body by skewers and hooks pierced into the skin.

Which Chinese city hosts the International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival each winter?

Harbin: the sculptures' building blocks are sawn from the frozen surface of the Songhua River.

Which South Korean summer festival began as a way to promote a local beauty product?

Boryeong Mud Festival: when coal mining shut down and the economy slumped, officials turned the local seaside mud into a tourist attraction.

At midnight on New Year's Eve in Madrid's Puerta del Sol, crowds eat twelve of what, one per chime?

Grapes are swallowed one per bell strike, each standing for a month of the year ahead. The custom dates back to at least 1895 and is broadcast live from the square's clock.

Which US city dyes its river green each Saint Patrick's Day, a custom that grew from plumbers tracing pollution?

Chicago's tradition arose by accident in 1961, when plumbers used a fluorescent dye to find the source of illegal waste flowing into the river. The local plumbers' union has sponsored the dyeing ever since.

Before pumpkins took over, which root vegetable was carved with a face for Halloween in Ireland?

Turnip carving is tied to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a trickster doomed to roam the Earth with only a glowing coal inside a hollowed-out root to light his way.

In which Nordic country is Easter the traditional time to read crime novels and watch murder mysteries?

Norway's publishers schedule new detective novels for the Easter break, and the major television channels fill the holiday with crime series for people staying in mountain cabins.

Which Australian marsupial is sold in chocolate form at Easter to raise funds for its own conservation?

Bilby chocolates were promoted as a native alternative to the Easter Bunny, partly to draw attention to the damage that introduced rabbits do to Australia's wildlife.

On the second day of Nepal's Tihar festival, which animals are honoured with flower garlands and treats?

Dogs, both pets and strays, are fed and given a tika mark on the forehead on the day known as Kukur Tihar. Crows and cows get days of their own in the same festival.

On the Spring Bank Holiday at Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire, what do competitors chase down a very steep slope?

A wheel of cheese, a round of Double Gloucester weighing up to nine pounds, gets about a one-second head start and can roll fast enough to knock over a spectator.

In Chinese legend, the New Year beast Nian is frightened off by loud firecrackers and by which colour?

Red is the colour the Nian fears in the legend, which is why doors are hung with scarlet scrolls and people dress in it at Chinese New Year.

What do Bermudians of all ages take outdoors every Good Friday to symbolise Christ's resurrection?

Colourful kites, usually six-sided frames filled in with bright tissue, crowd Bermuda's skies each Good Friday, and the island's traditional design is normally flown only at Easter.

On Weiberfastnacht, the Thursday that opens Cologne's street carnival, what do women cut off the men they meet?

Their neckties, seen as a symbol of men's status, are cut short on the day, and the men wear the stumps and get a little kiss as compensation.

At Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, families dip slices of apple in what before the festive meal?

Honey on apple stands for the hope of a sweet start to the year, a custom that was added to the holiday in medieval times.

Which bright flower, known in Mexico as cempasúchil, decorates altars and graves during the Day of the Dead?

Marigold blooms are nicknamed the flower of the dead in Mexico, and their local name comes from an Aztec word meaning twenty flower, twenty being a symbol of completion.

Diwali takes its name from a Sanskrit word meaning a row of what, set out by the thousand at the festival?

Lamps give the festival its name: Dipavali joins the Sanskrit words for light and row, and small ones called diyas are set out at homes, temples and workplaces.

Hanami, the Japanese custom of outdoor parties each spring, celebrates the brief blossoming of which tree?

Cherry blossom lasts only a week or two, so forecasts tracking the blossom front as it moves north across Japan are watched closely by people planning their parties.

On Children's Day in Japan, families fly koinobori, windsocks shaped like which fish known for swimming upstream?

Carp stand for courage and determination, echoing a Chinese myth in which a golden one swam up a waterfall and turned into a dragon.

During Japan's Tanabata star festival, people write wishes on small strips and hang them on which plant?

Bamboo carries the wishes at a festival marking the one night a year when two lovers, the stars Vega and Altair, are allowed to meet across the Milky Way.

Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, honours which prophet's willingness to give up his son at God's command?

Abraham, known as Ibrahim in Arabic, was stopped at the last moment, and tradition says a ram from heaven was offered in the boy's place.

Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when a Union general enforced the end of slavery in which state?

Texas was where Major General Gordon Granger gave the order on June 19, at the end of the Civil War, and the holiday's name blends June and nineteenth.

Which US president, urged on by magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale, proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day in 1863?

Lincoln acted in the middle of the Civil War, after the victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, and set the celebration for the final Thursday of November.

The San Fermín festival each July, famous for its morning running of the bulls, is held in which city?

Pamplona owes much of its foreign fame to Ernest Hemingway, who described the week-long festival in his novel The Sun Also Rises.

At Swedish Midsummer, people dance around the maypole to a traditional song about which small animals?

Frogs are the stars of the dance, whose moves act out the body parts the animals are missing: ears and tails.

Which Italian city's Carnival, famous for elaborate masks and costumes, was outlawed in 1797 and revived in 1979?

Venice went without its Carnival for almost two centuries, and the modern mask-making trade was restarted by local college students serving tourists.

In Britain, the day before Lent begins is nicknamed after which food, tossed by runners in a famous Olney race?

Pancakes used up the eggs, milk and butter before the Lenten fast. Olney's race is said to date from 1445, when a housewife ran to church with her frying pan in hand.

On St David's Day, 1 March, people in Wales pin a daffodil or which vegetable to their clothes?

Leek wearing is traced to Welsh troops who are said to have fixed the plant to their clothes to tell one another apart from similarly dressed enemy soldiers.

On King's Day, 27 April, people across the Netherlands dress in which colour, taken from the royal family's name?

Orange honours the ruling Orange-Nassau dynasty, and the day is also known for a nationwide free market at which the Dutch sell their used belongings.

On Chaharshanbe Suri, the eve of the Iranian year's last Wednesday, what do people leap over at sunset?

Bonfires are lit in yards, streets and on rooftops, and jumpers recite a phrase asking the flames to take away their paleness and lend them a healthy glow.

Greek families cut a New Year cake called vasilopita, hoping their own slice holds which lucky object?

A coin baked inside brings good luck to whoever finds it, and the cake is named for Saint Basil, whose feast day falls on 1 January.

In the folktale of the Jade Emperor's great race, which animal finished first to open the Chinese zodiac cycle?

Rat is first of the twelve signs because, in the tale, it rode across the river on the Ox's back and jumped off at the far bank to reach the Jade Emperor ahead of everyone.

The Thai town of Lopburi lays out an annual festival buffet of fruit and vegetables for which local animals?

Monkeys are the guests of honour: thousands of long-tailed macaques live around the town's ancient Khmer temple, where the feast is set out for them.

In Sweden, children go door to door before Easter swapping greetings for treats while dressed as what?

Witches were said in old Swedish legend to fly off on brooms to a place called Blockula on the Thursday before Easter and to fly home for the holiday.

Which Hindu god's ten-day festival ends with clay statues carried through Mumbai's streets and immersed in the sea?

Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, is believed to go back to his heavenly home once his image is immersed, so crowds see him off with music and chanting.

On the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan, women and girls tie a protective amulet called a rakhi around whose wrists?

Their brothers' wrists get the rakhi, and the brothers hand over a present and accept a share of responsibility for their sisters' care.

During Sukkot, Jewish families eat their meals, and sometimes sleep, inside which kind of outdoor shelter?

A hut called a sukkah, roofed with plant material such as palm leaves, echoes the temporary dwellings in which farmers once lived during the harvest.

During Passover, Jewish families give up leavened bread and eat which flat, cracker-like bread instead?

Matzah recalls the biblical story that the Israelites left in such haste that they could not wait for their dough to rise.

Barbados's Crop Over festival began as a celebration of the end of the harvest of which plantation crop?

Sugar cane plantations were where the festival took shape during slavery, and later additions to the fun included feasting contests and climbing a greased pole.

Mexico's Independence Day recalls a priest's 1810 call to arms from his church, known as the Cry of what?

Dolores was the town where Father Miguel Hidalgo rang his church bell, and each year Mexico's president rings that same bell from the balcony of the National Palace.

Matariki, a New Zealand public holiday since 2022, is named after the midwinter rising of which star cluster?

Pleiades is the cluster's more familiar name, and its first rising in late June or early July marks the start of the year in the country's Indigenous lunar calendar.

Ethiopia's Meskel festival, with its towering pyre called the Demera, commemorates the legendary discovery of what?

The True Cross was found, the story goes, by the Roman empress Helena, who was told in a dream to light a great fire and follow its smoke to the burial place.

Kandy's Esala Perahera, a grand elephant procession in Sri Lanka, pays homage to which relic of the Buddha?

A tooth of the Buddha is enshrined in a temple at Kandy, and a replica casket rides through the streets on the back of the lead tusker.

On New Year's Eve, Brazilians dressed in white gather on the beaches and traditionally jump over seven what?

Waves are jumped while white flowers and other offerings are thrown into the sea for Yemoja, a sea deity, in the hope that she will grant wishes for the coming year.

What do many families in Japan order for Christmas dinner, thanks to a 1970s advertising campaign?

Fried chicken from KFC became a national custom after the chain pitched its party barrels as a stand-in for the American turkey dinner, and Christmas orders are often placed weeks in advance.

Which country's Christmas 'book flood' sees new titles bought as presents and opened on Christmas Eve?

Iceland gets a free catalogue of the season's new titles delivered to every household, and reading matter is the country's most popular Christmas present.

Which Disney character's cartoon special has been shown on Swedish television every Christmas Eve since 1960?

Donald Duck is far more popular than Mickey in Sweden, so the Disney compilation was retitled after him, and a public outcry in the 1970s stopped the broadcaster from dropping it.

In Catalonia, what is the Tió de Nadal, which children feed for days and then beat with sticks at Christmas?

A wooden log with a smiling painted face is kept warm and fed in the days before Christmas so that, when it is beaten, it will poop out presents.

Every 23 December, Oaxaca in Mexico holds a contest for elaborate scenes carved from which oversized vegetables?

Radishes were first carved by farmers to catch shoppers' eyes at the Christmas market, and the city has had to set aside land to grow the giant ones used in the competition.

In a folk tale popular in Ukraine, what covers a poor widow's undecorated Christmas tree overnight?

Spider webs turn to gold and silver at sunrise in the tale, said to be the origin of tinsel, and spider-shaped ornaments are traditional decorations in western Ukraine.

Which Asian country's Christmas season starts when September arrives, spanning the so-called 'ber months'?

The Philippines hears festive music from September, and its Christmas season carries on until the Feast of the Santo Niño in the middle of January.

Which older calendar do the Russian and Serbian Orthodox churches follow, putting their Christmas Day on 7 January?

Julian dates have drifted behind the Gregorian calendar used by most of the world, so these churches' 25 December lands on what everyone else calls 7 January.

In Russian New Year tradition, how is the Snow Maiden related to the bearded present-bringer Ded Moroz?

His granddaughter and helper, she joins him as he delivers presents, which are left under the New Year Tree overnight on New Year's Eve.

Which Japanese city holds a February Snow Festival that began in 1950 with six statues built by students?

Sapporo's festival started as a one-day event in Odori Park and has grown into a seven-day show of snow sculptures on the northern island of Hokkaido.