144 Fun Facts About Spring Time

What astronomical event typically marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere?

The Vernal Equinox marks the start of northern spring: the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading north between 19 and 21 March, and in the Americas, which run behind UTC, it can fall as early as the 19th.

In the traditional Irish calendar, on what date does spring begin?

1 February, the feast of Imbolc, opens spring in the old Irish reckoning, which puts the solstices and equinoxes mid-season; that is why the June solstice is called Midsummer.

Astronomically, spring in the Northern Hemisphere concludes with the occurrence of which event?

Daylight keeps lengthening through the season until the solstice around 21 June, the longest day of the year in the north.

When does astronomical spring typically begin in the Southern Hemisphere?

South of the equator the seasons flip, so Australians, South Africans and Brazilians count September, October and November as their spring months.

Which spring constellation contains Arcturus, the brightest star of the northern sky?

Boötes, the Herdsman: its orange giant Arcturus rises high on spring evenings and is found by following the arc of the Big Dipper's handle.

What is the primary reason our planet experiences different seasons?

The tilt of its axis, about 23.4 degrees, is what gives Earth seasons, not distance: the planet is nearest the Sun in early January, mid-winter for the north.

Which three months constitute meteorological spring in the Northern Hemisphere?

Meteorologists define spring as the months of March, April, and May in the Northern Hemisphere for consistent climate data comparison.

What term is used for the day when daylight and night are exactly equal in length?

Equilux is the day of exactly equal daylight and night. In the north it falls a few days before the March equinox, because atmospheric refraction and the width of the solar disc give daylight a head start.

What is Japan's centuries-old custom of partying outdoors beneath blossoming cherry trees called?

Hanami means 'flower viewing'. Cherry trees bloom from late March to early May across most of Japan, and parties held after dark under lantern-lit branches are called yozakura.

Songkran, the traditional Thai New Year held each April, is known worldwide for what public activity?

Citywide water fights are Songkran's signature: the soaking symbolises cleansing at the turn of the year. The festival falls on 13 April, and UNESCO inscribed it on its intangible heritage list in December 2023.

On the eve of the Hindu festival of colours, a bonfire marks the burning of which demoness?

In the legend she was granted immunity to fire and tried to kill her nephew Prahlada by holding him in a blaze, but she burned instead and the boy survived. The bonfire ritual marks the end of winter and the start of spring.

In German and central European gardening lore, the Eisheiligen or "Ice Saints" are held to mark what?

The Ice Saints mark the last expected night frosts. Their feast days run from 11 to 14 May, closing with 'Cold Sophia' on the 15th, and many southern German gardeners wait until they have passed before planting out.

The induction of flowering by a prolonged spell of winter cold is known to botanists as what?

Vernalization is the cold requirement for flowering: winter wheat and many biennials need weeks near 1–7 degrees Celsius before they will flower, which keeps seed set in spring rather than autumn.

Apart from two bucks competing, which pairing commonly 'boxes' among hares in spring?

Normally shy and nocturnal, hares turn bold and daylight-active in spring. Does hit at bucks to signal they are not ready to mate or to test a suitor's persistence; this courtship display is the source of the phrase "mad as a March hare."

What marking does the spring peeper, an early-calling frog of eastern North America, carry on its back?

The pattern gives the tiny chorus frog its species name, Pseudacris crucifer, from the Latin for "cross-bearer." Adults reach only about 25 to 38 millimetres long.

The Boston Marathon is traditionally run on which Massachusetts holiday?

Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April, is Boston Marathon day. First run in 1897 after the marathon's revival at the 1896 Olympics, it is the world's oldest annual marathon, from Hopkinton to Boylston Street.

"April is the cruellest month" opens which poem of 1922?

The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot's 434-line modernist landmark, opens its first section, 'The Burial of the Dead', with the line. It first appeared in October 1922 in Eliot's magazine The Criterion.

At which lunar phases does a spring tide, unrelated to the season, occur?

Spring tides come at new moon and full moon, when Sun, Moon and Earth line up (a syzygy) and the Sun's pull reinforces the Moon's. At the quarter moons they sit at right angles, giving weaker neap tides.

Spring fields fill with newborn sheep skipping beside their ewes; what is the everyday name for a baby sheep?

A lamb grows up to be a ewe (female) or a ram (male), and a young sheep that has already been weaned is sometimes called a hogget.

What is a baby goat called?

Kid meant a young goat first: it comes from Old Norse, and people only later started using it for children. A joey is a kangaroo, a cub a bear, a pup a dog.

A tadpole in a spring pond breathes through gills and swims with a tail before growing into which animal?

A frog starts life as a tadpole that breathes with gills and swims with a tail, and both disappear as it turns into an air-breathing adult with legs.

What is a baby deer called?

A fawn is the young of smaller deer; the young of big species such as moose and elk are called calves instead, so the word depends on the size of the parents.

A caterpillar munching on spring leaves is the young form of which flying insect?

A caterpillar is the larva of a butterfly (or a moth); the life cycle runs egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, adult.

The American robin's eggs are such a distinctive colour that a paint shade is named after them; which colour?

Robin egg blue is the shade, a blue-green cyan; the mother lays three to five eggs and sits on the nest alone while the male keeps watch.

Which European country, famous for its spring tulip fields, saw the 1630s tulip mania?

The Netherlands is the world's leading tulip-bulb grower, mostly for export, and its 1630s tulip mania is often called history's first speculative bubble.

The daffodil, one of the first blooms of spring, is the national flower of which country?

Wales: people pin a daffodil to their coats on St David's Day, 1 March, and the flower is also the emblem of cancer charities in many countries.

Washington, D.C.'s famous cherry trees were a 1912 gift from which country?

Japan sent 3,020 trees in the 1912 shipment, a gift from the city of Tokyo; First Lady Helen Taft planted the first two herself beside the Tidal Basin on 27 March 1912.

On which date do Pennsylvanians watch a groundhog named Phil to predict whether spring will come early?

February 2 is Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney: if Phil sees his shadow, winter lasts six more weeks; if he doesn't, spring is on its way.

According to the old saying, what do April showers bring?

May flowers need April rain, so the saying is practical before it is poetic; people also use it to mean good things follow hard times.

New spring leaves are green because of which pigment inside them?

Chlorophyll soaks up red and blue light to power the plant and bounces green back, which is the colour we see; the carotene beneath only shows once it breaks down in autumn.

When a bee carries yellow dust from one spring flower's anther to another's stigma so seeds form, what is the process called?

Pollination by animals is what roughly four in five flowering plants depend on, and bees do more of it than any other insect. Germination is the seed sprouting afterwards.

In the Northern Hemisphere, in which direction do most migrating birds fly when spring arrives?

They head for the long summer days of the temperate and Arctic regions to raise chicks, then turn around again in autumn.

Hay fever, the sneezing and itchy eyes that hit people each spring, is despite its name an allergy to what?

Pollen is the trigger, and in spring it mostly comes from trees such as birch and alder; grass pollen takes over in early summer. Hay itself is rarely the culprit.

On May Day, a spring festival that also crowns a May Queen, children weave ribbons while dancing in a circle around what?

A tall pole wrapped in ribbons is the maypole, a fixture of European folk festivals for centuries; the ribbons braid around it as dancers circle in opposite directions.

In the United States, on which day is Mother's Day celebrated?

The second Sunday in May: Anna Jarvis began it with a church service in Grafton, West Virginia, in May 1908, and later spent years fighting the card and flower trade for commercialising it.

Earth Day, when people plant trees and pick up litter, falls on which date every year?

April 22: the first Earth Day, in 1970, was organised by US senator Gaylord Nelson as a nationwide environmental teach-in.

Bears emerge in spring after months of what deep, low-energy winter sleep, during which they do not even pee?

Hibernation lets a bear go months without peeing because its body recycles the urine and proteins, which is also why it barely loses muscle. Estivation is the hot-weather version.

When daylight saving time begins in spring, usually overnight on a weekend, what happens to the clocks?

They go forward one hour, so everyone loses an hour of sleep; the rhyme 'spring forward, fall back' is how people remember which way to move them.

Cinco de Mayo, on 5 May, celebrates a Mexican army victory in 1862 over soldiers from which country?

France: on 5 May 1862 an outnumbered Mexican army beat a French force at the Battle of Puebla. The day is often mistaken for Mexican Independence Day, which is 16 September.

Saint Patrick's Day, when people wear green and shamrocks, falls on which date, traditionally held to be the saint's death day?

March 17 is the traditional date of Saint Patrick's death, and legend says he used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity.

During the spring festival of Passover, Jewish families eat a flat, unleavened bread called what?

Matzah is the unleavened bread of Passover: the holiday remembers the Israelites leaving Egypt in such haste that their dough had no time to rise.

Where does the English name of the season 'spring' come from?

Before that, the season was simply called Lent in English, and "the spring of the year" was another early way of saying it.

What do astronomers call the point where the Sun crosses the celestial equator in March?

The First Point of Aries is the March equinox point, the zero of right ascension; precession has carried it into Pisces, but the ancient name stuck.

What season begins in the Southern Hemisphere on the March equinox?

Australians, South Africans and Brazilians instead count September, October and November as their spring months. The seasons flip because Earth's tilt points the opposite hemisphere toward the Sun.

Which Christian holiday falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the March equinox?

Easter follows that rule, which is why its date wanders between 22 March and 25 April; the Church fixes the equinox at 21 March and uses a calculated, not observed, full moon.

Nowruz, the New Year festival timed to the spring equinox, is the New Year's Day of which calendar?

Families gather around a Haft-sin table of seven items beginning with the Persian letter S and wait for the exact moment of the equinox. The UN recognised an International Day of Nowruz in 2010.

What do celebrants of Chaharshanbe Suri, held shortly before the Persian New Year, traditionally do?

They jump over bonfires on the eve of the last Wednesday before Nowruz, a symbolic purification before the new year; firecrackers and fireworks are set off the same night.

Which cherry cultivar makes up most of the trees around Washington's Tidal Basin?

Yoshino cherries, with pale single blossoms, account for roughly 70 percent of the Tidal Basin trees; the later-blooming Kwanzan dominates East Potomac Park.

By what other common name is the groundhog known?

Woodchuck is the groundhog's other everyday name; Marmota monax is a large ground squirrel of eastern North America, hence the tongue-twister about how much wood it could chuck.

On which date does the northward equinox most commonly fall at 0 degrees longitude?

The 20th: at UTC the March equinox falls on the 20th in most 21st-century years. It last fell on 21 March in 2007 and will not again until 2102.

At UTC, which year is the first since 1796 to have a 19 March equinox?

2044: at UTC the equinox slips about 45 minutes earlier every four-year leap cycle, and in 2044 it lands late on 19 March, the first time since 1796.

Roughly how many hours long are day and night at the spring equinox?

About twelve hours each: the Sun sits over the equator at the equinox, so day and night are nearly equal everywhere, and daylight then lengthens until the summer solstice.

Which 40-day period of fasting and penance precedes Easter?

Lent's 40 days echo the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert. Advent is the run-up to Christmas, and Eastertide is the season that follows Easter rather than precedes it.

Which day of Holy Week recalls Judas agreeing to betray Jesus?

Spy Wednesday recalls Judas Iscariot's bargain with the chief priests for thirty pieces of silver; Maundy Thursday, the next day, commemorates the Last Supper.

Among which group did the Easter Bunny tradition originate?

German Lutherans: the Osterhase, or Easter Hare, first appears in Georg Franck von Franckenau's 1682 De ovis paschalibus, and originally judged whether children had been good.

Which Ukrainian Easter egg is decorated with a wax-resist method?

A pysanka is written with a stylus of hot beeswax between dye baths, so each colour is preserved under wax; a krashanka is simply dyed one colour.

In Christian symbolism, what do Easter eggs represent?

The egg stands for the empty tomb of Jesus, its shell breaking open as the tomb did at the Resurrection; dyeing eggs red recalled the blood shed at the crucifixion.

Early Christians of which region are credited with starting the Easter egg custom?

The early Christians of Mesopotamia are credited with it, staining eggs red in memory of the blood of Christ; the custom spread through the Orthodox churches into Eastern Europe.

On which day are hot cross buns traditionally eaten in the UK?

A 1592 decree limited spiced buns to burials, Good Friday and Christmas.

How many marzipan balls conventionally top a simnel cake, and why?

Eleven marzipan balls stand for the apostles minus Judas. The cake was originally made for the fourth Sunday in Lent, Mothering Sunday, and later became an Easter staple.

Which 8th-century writer recorded the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, namesake of Easter?

April was called Eosturmonath in her honour.

The ashes used on Ash Wednesday are traditionally made by burning what?

Palm fronds from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned to make the ashes, which are then blessed and marked on foreheads on Ash Wednesday.

Which day immediately precedes the first day of Lent?

Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, comes right before Ash Wednesday, which opens Lent; its name comes from 'shriving', confessing sins before the fast.

Holi celebrates the love between which two deities?

Radha and Krishna: legend says Krishna, self-conscious about his dark skin, playfully coloured Radha's face, the origin of the colour play. Holi also marks Vishnu's victory as Narasimha over Hiranyakashipu.

Holi begins on the full moon of which Hindu month?

That usually falls around the middle of March.

In which ancient religion do the roots of Nowruz lie?

Zoroastrianism: Nowruz has been kept for some 3,000 years, long before Islam reached Iran, and it is also a holy day (Naw-Rúz) in the Baha'i faith.

What does the Persian word Nowruz literally mean?

New Day: Persian 'now' (new) and 'ruz' (day) make up the name. The festival falls on the day of the March equinox, 20 or 21 March in Iran.

Sizdah Bedar, the outdoor picnic that closes Nowruz, falls on which day of the new year?

The thirteenth: Sizdah Bedar means 'getting rid of thirteen', and on 13 Farvardin families picnic outdoors and throw their sprouted greens into running water.

Which plague did God 'pass over' the Israelites' homes during, giving Passover its name?

The death of the firstborn, the tenth plague: lamb's blood on the doorframes marked the Israelite homes to be spared, and the angel 'passed over' them.

Passover is one of how many Jewish Pilgrimage Festivals?

Three: Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot are the Shalosh Regalim, when Israelites went up to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Until which year was Songkran the official Thai New Year?

1888: that year Siam moved New Year's Day to a fixed 1 April, and in 1940 it moved again to 1 January; Songkran stayed on as a public holiday.

Songkran takes its name from a Sanskrit word meaning what?

Passage: Sanskrit sankranti means the sun's transit into a new zodiac sign, and Songkran marks its entry into Aries on 13 April.

Thingyan, a mid-April water festival, is the New Year of which country?

Myanmar: Thingyan opens the Burmese New Year in mid-April, and temporary stages called pandals fill the streets of Yangon with water hoses and music.

Which Roman festival has May Day been associated with?

The Floralia, a Roman games festival running from 28 April into early May, is the one linked to May Day; Gaelic Beltane and Welsh Calan Mai are related traditions.

Which festival do some countries erect the maypole for instead of 1 May?

Pentecost or Whitsun: in parts of Germany the maypole goes up at Whitsun rather than on 1 May, while Sweden raises its midsommarstång at Midsummer in late June.

Beltane is one of four main Gaelic festivals with Samhain, Imbolc and which other?

Lughnasadh, the 1 August harvest festival named for the god Lugh, completes the four: Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain. Cattle were driven to summer pastures at Beltane.

Which English-born abbess's feast eve, 30 April, is marked by German bonfires?

Saint Walpurga, the 8th-century English-born abbess of Heidenheim, gives Walpurgis Night its name; bonfires on 30 April were lit to ward off witches and evil spirits.

Which part of The Canterbury Tales is disputedly linked to 1 April and foolishness?

The Nun's Priest's Tale, in which the vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox, dates its action 'syn March bigan thritty dayes and two', read by some as 32 March, or 1 April.

Under what name was Memorial Day first observed nationally on May 30, 1868?

Decoration Day: John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic proclaimed 30 May 1868 a day for decorating the graves of Civil War dead, and the name Memorial Day took over later.

Vaisakhi is a spring harvest festival celebrated primarily in which region?

Punjab: Vaisakhi on 13 or 14 April marks the wheat harvest and the solar New Year there, and for Sikhs the founding of the Khalsa in 1699.

Where in Spain was the world's first documented tree-planting festival held, in 1594?

Mondoñedo, in Galicia, held a documented tree-planting festival in 1594 under its mayor; the first modern Arbor Day came in 1805 at Villanueva de la Sierra.

Which compound gives salt-pickled cherry blossoms and leaves their characteristic scent?

Coumarin, released when sakura blossoms and leaves are salt-pickled, gives the sweet, hay-like scent of sakuramochi and sakura tea.

Which Japanese government agency issued the 'cherry blossom front' forecast until 2009?

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued the sakura-zensen forecast until 2009; from 2010 private forecasters such as Weathernews took over, while the agency kept recording flowering dates of its sample trees.

In which month and year did the Dutch tulip bubble dramatically collapse?

February 1637: bulb prices collapsed within days at auctions in Haarlem, ending a mania often called the first recorded speculative bubble.

Roughly how many flower bulbs are planted at the Keukenhof gardens each year?

About 7 million bulbs are hand-planted each autumn at Keukenhof in Lisse, nicknamed the Garden of Europe, for a season that runs from late March to mid-May.

What is the Persian name for the pre-Nowruz cleaning that may have inspired spring cleaning?

Khaneh tekani literally means 'shaking the house': in the weeks before Nowruz, Iranian families scrub their homes and buy new clothes, a custom often cited as a root of spring cleaning.

Who choreographed the 1913 premiere of The Rite of Spring?

Vaslav Nijinsky choreographed the 1913 premiere for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes; his stamping, turned-in steps helped provoke the uproar on the Paris opening night.

At which Paris theatre did The Rite of Spring premiere on 29 May 1913?

The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, opened only weeks earlier in April 1913, staged the premiere on 29 May 1913 with Pierre Monteux conducting.

Vivaldi's Four Seasons were published in 1725 in which city?

Amsterdam: publisher Michel-Charles Le Cène issued them in 1725 as the first four of the twelve Op. 8 concerti, The Contest Between Harmony and Invention.

Which art historian first described Botticelli's painting as 'Primavera', around 1550?

Giorgio Vasari, in his 1550 Lives of the Artists, described the painting at Villa di Castello outside Florence as showing Venus with the Graces 'denoting spring'.

Persephone, embodiment of spring, was the daughter of Zeus and which goddess?

Demeter, goddess of the harvest, is her mother; Demeter's grief while Persephone is in the underworld brings winter, and her return each year brings vegetation back.

Which bird of prey does the adult common cuckoo mimic?

The sparrowhawk: the cuckoo's barred grey underparts and flight resemble it, scaring small birds off their nests and buying the female time to lay in a host's nest.

What is the botanical genus name of the daffodil?

Narcissus is the daffodil genus; Linnaeus formally described it in Species Plantarum in 1753, and the name recalls the youth of Greek myth who pined away by a pool.

The snowdrop's genus name Galanthus comes from Greek words meaning what?

Milk flower: Galanthus joins Greek gala (milk) and anthos (flower) for the white bloom; most species flower before the March equinox.

Which bird holds the long-distance migration record, flying pole to pole each year?

The Arctic tern: tracked birds cover some 70,000 kilometres a year between Arctic breeding grounds and Antarctic waters, the longest migration known for any animal.

Which cheese is chased down the hill at Gloucestershire's Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling?

A wheel of Double Gloucester, weighing about 3–4 kilograms, is chased down the 1-in-2 slope of Cooper's Hill near Brockworth on the Spring Bank Holiday each May.

In what year is Morris dancing first recorded in England?

1448: the earliest known mention is a payment of seven shillings by London's Goldsmiths' Company to Morris dancers that year.

Qingming, or Tomb-Sweeping Day, falls how many days after the spring equinox?

15 days: Qingming begins when the Sun reaches 15 degrees past the equinox point, which lands it on 4, 5 or 6 April each year.

Which Chinese solar term, beginning around February 4, marks the start of spring?

Lichun, 'start of spring', begins when the Sun reaches celestial longitude 315 degrees, around 4 February; it is the first of the 24 solar terms.

Which birds 'arrive' in the first pentad of the Chinese solar term Chunfen?

Swallows: the first pentad of Chunfen is 'the dark birds arrive', meaning swallows returning north; the later pentads note thunder and then lightning beginning.

In what year did Japan's Vernal Equinox Day become a public holiday?

1948: Japan's Public Holiday Law of that year created Vernal Equinox Day (Shunbun no Hi), replacing the Shinto imperial ancestor rite Shunki koreisai.

Which fermented fish is traditionally eaten on Egypt's spring festival Sham el-Nessim?

Fesikh, grey mullet fermented in salt, is the traditional Sham el-Nessim dish; the festival falls on the Monday after Coptic Easter.

What is burned at Zurich's spring festival Sechseläuten?

The festival is held on the third Monday of April.

In the earliest Roman calendar, March was which month of the year?

The first: the early Roman calendar attributed to Romulus began the year in March, named for Mars; January and February were added later, pushing March to third place.

The Roman Hilaria on the March equinox honoured which mother goddess?

Cybele, the Magna Mater: the Hilaria on 25 March closed her spring festival with rejoicing over Attis, and no one was allowed to show grief that day.

The Athenian spring festival Anthesteria honoured which god?

Dionysus: the Anthesteria, held in the month Anthesterion (February–March), opened with Pithoigia, when storage jars of the previous vintage were ceremonially broached.

A swimming coach from which university helped start Florida spring break in the 1930s?

Colgate: swimming coach Sam Ingram brought his team to train at Fort Lauderdale's new Olympic-size Casino Pool in 1936, and the college swim forum that followed seeded spring break there.

Who first proposed daylight saving time, in an 1895 paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society?

George Hudson, a New Zealand entomologist who wanted more daylight for collecting insects after work, proposed a two-hour shift in 1895; Willett campaigned for it in Britain from 1907.

In which two US states does Major League Baseball hold spring training?

Arizona and Florida: the Cactus League and Grapefruit League each host 15 teams from mid-February; Japan's NPB heads to Okinawa and Kyushu instead.

In 2023, 2024 and 2025, MLB's Opening Day fell on which day?

All three seasons opened on the last Thursday of March. Thomas Boswell wrote a book titled Why Time Begins on Opening Day.

Which two men founded the Masters golf tournament, first played in 1934?

Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts founded it as the Augusta National Invitation Tournament in 1934; the name Masters was adopted in 1939.

Since 1978, the UK's early May bank holiday has fallen on which Monday?

The first Monday of May: the Early May Bank Holiday was introduced in 1978 by the Labour government, separate from the late-May Spring Bank Holiday.

Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on which day of Easter, counted inclusively?

The fortieth: counting Easter Sunday as day one, Ascension Day lands on a Thursday 39 days later, though some Catholic dioceses transfer it to the following Sunday.

On which date is the 'major rogation' day of prayer held?

25 April: the Major Rogation, or Greater Litany, took over the date of the Roman Robigalia, a procession against crop blight; rogation comes from Latin rogare, 'to ask'.

Rama Navami, celebrating Rama's birth, falls in which Hindu month?

It is part of the spring Chaitra Navaratri festival.

Japan's Golden Week runs between which dates?

29 April to 5 May: Golden Week runs from Showa Day to Children's Day, taking in Constitution Memorial Day and Greenery Day, four public holidays in a week.

Ugadi, the Kannada and Telugu New Year, belongs to a cycle of how many named years?

60: each Ugadi opens a named year in the 60-year samvatsara cycle of the Hindu calendar; it falls on the first day of the month of Chaitra.

Which Assamese festival celebrates spring in mid-April?

Rongali, or Bohag, Bihu in mid-April opens the Assamese New Year and sowing season; Bhogali Bihu is the January harvest feast and Kongali Bihu the sombre autumn one.

What is the arrangement of auspicious items viewed first thing on Vishu morning called?

Vishukkani, 'the first sight of Vishu', is a tray of rice, fruit, gold, a mirror and yellow konna flowers set before an image of Krishna and seen on waking.

Bulgarians exchange red-and-white martenitsi on which date, Baba Marta Day?

1 March: Baba Marta ('Grandma March') Day opens the month, and the martenitsi are worn until the wearer sees a stork, swallow or blossoming tree.

Kurentovanje, a spring carnival of furry-costumed Kurents, is held in which country?

Slovenia: the town of Ptuj hosts Kurentovanje, where Kurents in sheepskin, cowbells and feathered masks chase away winter; UNESCO listed the door-to-door rounds in 2017.

Maslenitsa, the Slavic 'Butter Week', falls in the week before what?

Great Lent: Maslenitsa fills the last week before it, when meat is already off the menu but butter, eggs and blini are not; it corresponds to Western Carnival, though Orthodox Lent starts on a Monday.

Fastelavn, the Nordic carnival, always falls how many weeks before Easter Sunday?

Seven weeks: Fastelavn Sunday is Quinquagesima, 49 days before Easter; children dress up, beat a barrel of sweets and go door to door for treats.

Which day marks the start of Holy Week in Western Christianity?

Palm Sunday opens Holy Week, recalling Christ's entry into Jerusalem, when crowds greeted him with palm branches; Easter follows seven days later.

Between which hours is the 'Three Hours' Agony' service held?

Noon to 3 p.m.: the Gospels record darkness from the sixth to the ninth hour while Jesus hung on the cross, and the Good Friday service keeps those three hours.

Pentecost is celebrated how many days after Easter?

49 days: Pentecost is the seventh Sunday after Easter, the fiftieth day counting inclusively, and is often called the 'Birthday of the Church'.

Anzac Day on 25 April originally honoured troops who fought in which WWI campaign?

Gallipoli: Australian and New Zealand troops landed there on 25 April 1915, and the date became a day of remembrance in both countries.

Which Dutch monarch's birthday is celebrated on King's Day, 27 April?

Willem-Alexander, born 27 April 1967: King's Day moved to his birthday in 2014 after Beatrix's abdication; under her it stayed Queen's Day on 30 April, her mother Juliana's birthday.

Which general led Mexico's 1862 victory at Puebla, celebrated on Cinco de Mayo?

Ignacio Zaragoza led the outnumbered Mexican army at Puebla on 5 May 1862; he died of typhoid that September, and the invaders took Mexico City the following year.

Which US city dyes its river green every Saint Patrick's Day?

Chicago has dyed the Chicago River green for Saint Patrick's Day since 1962, using a vegetable-based dye poured from boats.

Which queen saved the Jewish people from Haman, an event celebrated at Purim?

Esther, the Jewish queen of Persia's Ahasuerus, exposed Haman's plot; her cousin Mordecai had earlier foiled an assassination attempt on the king.

Lag BaOmer marks the end of a plague that killed 24,000 students of which sage?

Rabbi Akiva: the Talmud says 24,000 of his students died in a plague between Passover and Shavuot that ceased on Lag BaOmer; pilgrims visit Shimon bar Yochai's tomb in Meron that day.

Which harvest did Shavuot mark in the Land of Israel according to Exodus?

Wheat: Exodus 34:22 calls Shavuot the feast of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest; tradition also marks it as the giving of the Ten Commandments at Sinai.

Vesak commemorates which three events in the life of the Buddha?

Birth, enlightenment and death: Theravada tradition places all three on the full moon of Vaisakha, so Vesak honours the Buddha's birth at Lumbini, awakening at Bodh Gaya and passing at Kushinagar.

The bluebonnet is the state flower of which US state?

Lupinus texensis emerges as seedlings in autumn and takes off in spring.

In Scotland, the name 'bluebell' refers to which plant instead of Hyacinthoides?

The harebell, Campanula rotundifolia, is the Scottish bluebell, a summer flower of dry grassland; the English bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, carpets ancient woodlands in spring.

Why is lily-of-the-valley dangerous if eaten?

It contains cardiac glycosides such as convallatoxin, which disturb heart rhythm; every part, including the red berries, is toxic, though its French name muguet graces many perfumes.

Which woman began the campaign to bring cherry trees to Washington after an 1885 trip?

Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, a travel writer, lobbied Washington officials for cherry trees for some 24 years after visiting Japan in 1885, until Helen Taft took up the idea in 1909.

The Kentucky Derby, run since 1875, takes place each year on which day?

The first Saturday in May: run at Churchill Downs in Louisville over 1¼ miles, the Derby is the first leg of the Triple Crown and is preceded by a two-week festival.

Who won the first Indianapolis 500, held on Decoration Day in 1911?

Ray Harroun won the 1911 race in a Marmon Wasp, famously using a rear-view mirror instead of a riding mechanic; the 33-car grid in rows of three and the winner's bottle of milk came later.

The RHS's famous May flower show is held in the grounds of which London institution?

The Royal Hospital Chelsea has hosted the RHS Great Spring Show since 1913, after the 1912 Royal International Horticultural Exhibition there proved the site's worth.

The Cannes Film Festival, usually held each May, was founded in which year?

1946: minister Jean Zay set up a rival to Venice in 1938, the planned September 1939 opening was cancelled by the war, and the first full festival ran in September 1946.

In Alaska and northern Canada, what is the spring thaw that turns roads to muck called?

Breakup, named for river ice breaking apart: frozen lower soil stops meltwater draining away, so dirt roads turn to muck as the surface thaws from the top down.

The Giro d'Italia, the spring Grand Tour, was first organised in 1909 to boost sales of what?

A sports newspaper: La Gazzetta dello Sport launched the Giro in 1909 to lift circulation, and the race leader's pink jersey matches the paper's pink newsprint.