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50 free Catholic Christmas trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
For Catholics, Christmas is not one day but a season, bracketed by four weeks of Advent on one side and the Octave, Epiphany and Candlemas on the other. This Catholic Christmas trivia quiz walks through all of it: the violet and rose candles of the Advent wreath, Gaudete Sunday, the O Antiphons behind 'O Come, O Come, Emmanuel', the three Masses of Christmas Day, St Francis's first crib at Greccio, the feasts of St Stephen, the Holy Innocents and Mary Mother of God, and the Magi's chalk on the door at Epiphany. It also covers Catholic Christmas customs around the world, from Las Posadas and Simbang Gabi to the Befana, plus the December Marian feasts of the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe, Silent Night's priest-lyricist and the Vatican's tree and crib. Questions range from easy ones any parish CCD class could answer to expert-level liturgical history, so it works for a parish social, a Catholic school quiz or family game night. Every answer was checked against liturgical references and encyclopaedic sources before publishing, and each question carries a citation.
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Q 01When does the season of Advent begin?
The fourth Sunday before Christmas
The fourth Sunday before Christmas: Advent Sunday, the Sunday nearest the feast of St Andrew (30 November), opens the liturgical year in the Western Church; the name is from Latin adventus, 'coming'.
Q 02What is the usual liturgical colour for Advent in the Western Church?
Violet
Pope Innocent III once declared black the proper colour, but violet has held sway since about the 13th century.
Q 03On which Sunday of Advent may rose vestments be worn and the rose candle lit?
The third
The third: Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, allows rose vestments as a mid-season lift, echoing Laetare Sunday, the rose-coloured fourth Sunday of Lent.
Q 04What does 'Gaudete', the name of the third Sunday of Advent, mean?
Rejoice
It is the first word of that day's introit, from Philippians: 'Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.'
Q 05Advent originally began as a fast of forty days starting the day after whose feast on 11 November?
Martin of Tours
It was known as St Martin's Lent as early as the fifth century; the season shrank to four weeks in the ninth century.
Q 06The Advent wreath, common in Catholic homes, began as a tradition in which denomination?
Lutheran
Lutheran: the Lutheran pastor Johann Hinrich Wichern built the first modern Advent wreath in 1839 for the children of his Rauhes Haus mission in Hamburg, who kept asking when Christmas would come.
Q 07The O Antiphons, sung at Vespers from 17 to 23 December, are best known in English as which hymn?
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is John Mason Neale's 1851 English rendering of the Latin hymn Veni, veni, Emmanuel, which paraphrases the seven antiphons from O Sapientia to O Emmanuel.
Q 08The O Antiphons are sung during which canticle at Vespers?
The Magnificat
The Magnificat: each O Antiphon frames the Magnificat, the Gospel canticle of Vespers, on 17–23 December; the sequence probably dates to sixth-century Italy.
Q 09What is the earliest document to place Jesus's birthday on 25 December?
The Chronograph of 354
The Chronograph of 354, an illustrated Roman almanac also called the Calendar of Filocalus, records 25 December as Christ's birthday in a martyrs' list thought to go back to AD 336.
Q 10Which pilgrim first chronicled the tradition of a Christmas midnight vigil, in Bethlehem around 381?
Egeria
Egeria, a western pilgrim whose travel diary describes the Holy Land liturgy around 381–384, records the night vigil in Bethlehem and the torchlit procession that reached Jerusalem at dawn.
Q 11In which Roman basilica did Pope Sixtus III institute the Christmas midnight Mass?
Santa Maria Maggiore
Santa Maria Maggiore: Sixtus III rebuilt the basilica after the Council of Ephesus (431), and tradition credits him with the first midnight Mass in its crib oratory, later called Sancta Maria ad Praesepe.
Q 12What is the official Latin name of what most Catholics call Midnight Mass?
Missa in nocte
Missa in nocte, 'Mass during the Night', is the Roman Missal's name for it; it need not begin at midnight, and the Vatican moved its celebration to 10 pm in 2009.
Q 13How many Masses may a priest traditionally celebrate on Christmas Day, each with its own proper?
Three
Q 21What does the papal blessing 'Urbi et Orbi', given at Christmas, literally mean?
To the city and to the world
To the city and to the world: Urbi et Orbi addresses Rome (urbs), of which the pope is bishop, and the whole world (orbis), whose Church he heads; it carries a plenary indulgence.
Q 22Epiphany is traditionally celebrated on which date in January?
The 6th
The 6th: Epiphany's traditional date is 6 January, the twelfth day after Christmas; where it is not a holy day of obligation it is transferred to the Sunday after New Year's Day.
Q 23Which four items are blessed at Epiphany in parts of central Europe for household use?
Three: the Roman Missal gives three Christmas Masses with distinct propers, during the Night, at Dawn and during the Day, a Roman custom established by the sixth century.
Q 14Which saint staged the first live nativity scene, at Greccio in 1223?
Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi set up a manger with hay and live animals in a cave at Greccio for Christmas 1223, after visiting the Holy Land; sculpted cribs later spread from Italy across Europe.
Q 15Which two animals are traditionally shown at the manger, though neither appears in the Gospel accounts?
An ox and a donkey
An ox and a donkey: neither animal appears in Matthew or Luke; they were read into the scene from a prophecy about beasts knowing their master's crib, and appear on sarcophagi from the fourth century.
Q 16When does Christmastide begin in the Catholic liturgical calendar?
At sunset on Christmas Eve
At sunset on Christmas Eve: Christmas Time opens with First Vespers of the Nativity on the evening of 24 December, so most of Christmas Eve itself belongs to Advent.
Q 17Whose feast, honouring the first Christian martyr, falls on 26 December?
Saint Stephen
Saint Stephen, the protomartyr stoned in Acts 7, has 26 December, the second day of Christmastide; St Stephen's Day is a public holiday in Ireland, Italy, Germany and much of Europe.
Q 18The Feast of the Holy Innocents on 28 December commemorates children killed on whose orders?
Herod the Great
Herod the Great, king of Judea, ordered the killing of Bethlehem's boys aged two and under after the Magi failed to report back (Matthew 2); the day is also called Childermas.
Q 19What solemnity does the Catholic Church celebrate on 1 January, the Octave Day of Christmas?
Mary, Mother of God
Mary, Mother of God: the Solemnity on 1 January, the Octave Day of Christmas, honours Mary's title Theotokos from the Council of Ephesus; older calendars kept the Circumcision of the Lord on that day.
Q 20Which territory's first bishop formally began the feast of the Holy Family in the 17th century?
New France
New France: Saint François de Laval, the first bishop of Quebec, founded a Confraternity of the Holy Family in 1663 and introduced the feast in his diocese; Rome extended it to the whole Church in 1921.
Chalk, water, frankincense and gold
Chalk, water, frankincense and gold are blessed at Epiphany; families chalk the year and C+M+B over the door, for the Magi Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar or 'Christus mansionem benedicat'.
Q 24In Italian folklore, who delivers gifts to children on the night of 5 January?
The Befana
The Befana: an old woman on a broomstick who fills stockings on the eve of Epiphany; her name is a corruption of Epifania, and naughty children get a lump of coal.
Q 25What is the ring-shaped cake eaten in Mexico on 6 January called?
Rosca de Reyes
Rosca de Reyes, the 'kings' ring', is sliced on 6 January; whoever finds the hidden baby figurine must host the tamales on Candlemas, 2 February. The French equivalent is the galette des Rois.
Q 26Las Posadas, the nine-night procession re-enacting the search for lodging, runs on which dates?
16th to 24th
16th to 24th: Las Posadas runs nine nights, 16–24 December, one for each month of the Virgin's pregnancy, ending on Christmas Eve; each night closes with a star-shaped piñata.
Q 27Las Posadas has been a Mexican tradition since which year?
1586
1586: that year the Augustinian friar Diego de Soria won permission from Pope Sixtus V for nine pre-Christmas 'misas de aguinaldo' in New Spain, the seed of Las Posadas.
Q 28The Filipino dawn Masses of Simbang Gabi began in 1669 as a compromise for whom?
Farmers who worked before sunrise
Farmers who worked before sunrise: Spanish friars in the Philippines moved the novena Masses to dawn so farm labourers could attend before going to the fields; anticipated evening Masses are a later convenience.
Q 29What is the Christmas Eve Mass called at the end of Simbang Gabi?
Misa de Gallo
Misa de Gallo, 'Rooster's Mass', the Spanish world's name for the Christmas Eve Mass, closes the Simbang Gabi novena; the cockerel is said to have been the first to announce the Nativity.
Q 30On which December date is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception?
The 8th
The 8th: the Immaculate Conception falls on 8 December, nine months before the Nativity of the Virgin on 8 September; it is the patronal feast of the United States, Spain and the Philippines.