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This holiday trivia quiz has 98 free questions with answers covering the whole calendar and the whole world: Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Eve; Thanksgiving, Halloween, Easter, Valentine's Day, St Patrick's Day and the Fourth of July; and celebrations from Diwali, Holi and Nowruz to Day of the Dead, Songkran and Bonfire Night. Alongside the traditions themselves you will find the holiday films (Home Alone, Elf, It's a Wonderful Life), songs (Jingle Bells, White Christmas, Mariah), foods (candy canes, latkes, eggnog, fruitcake) and history (Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation, the Times Square ball, the Eggnog Riot at West Point). Use it for an office holiday party, a classroom warm-up, a pub quiz round or family game night: easy openers, mid-level questions most people will argue over, and a few genuinely hard ones to settle who knows the most. Every answer has been verified against a primary source or reference encyclopaedia, and each question shows its explanation and citation once you answer. Play the full set for a score you can share, then try the Christmas, Halloween or Thanksgiving quizzes for a deeper dive.
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Q 01The modern custom of decorating an evergreen tree for Christmas began in the 16th century in which country?
Germany
Germany's Lutherans were the first recorded tree decorators; one stood in Strasbourg Cathedral in 1539, and Prince Albert made the custom fashionable in England in the 1840s.
Q 02In Iceland, what do the Yule Lads leave in the shoe of a child who has misbehaved?
A rotten potato
The Yule Lads leave a rotten potato in a misbehaving child's shoe; well-behaved children find small gifts instead, one lad arriving each night in the run-up to Christmas.
Q 03Eating twelve grapes at midnight on New Year's Eve, one per chime of the clock, is a tradition from which country?
Spain
Spain's grapes are swallowed to the chimes of the clock in Madrid's Puerta del Sol, broadcast nationwide, and the custom has spread across Latin America.
Q 04Among the German Lutherans who first told of the 'Easter Hare', what role did the animal originally play?
A judge of children's conduct
Much like Santa's naughty-or-nice list, the hare decided who deserved eggs; a 1572 German text already warns that if he escapes, 'we will cook the nest'.
Q 05Diwali, often called the Festival of Lights, primarily symbolizes the triumph of what?
Good over evil
Diwali is a significant festival celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and some Buddhists, symbolizing the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, and good over evil.
Q 06In what year was the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade held in New York City?
1924
The inaugural Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, originally called Macy's Christmas Parade, took place in 1924, featuring store employees, floats, and live animals.
Q 07Kwanzaa is a celebration based on seven core principles, collectively known by what Swahili term?
Nguzo Saba
The seven principles of Kwanzaa, which focus on community and African heritage, are known as the Nguzo Saba: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith).
Q 08Which Jewish holiday features a Seder meal retelling the Exodus from Egypt?
Passover
Passover's Seder retells the escape from slavery; matzah is unleavened because the Israelites left too fast for bread to rise, and the bitter herbs recall the bitterness of bondage.
Q 09Which traditional English Christmas punch of hot spiced ale or cider takes its name from a toast meaning 'be in good health'?
Wassail
Wassail comes from the Old English toast wes hál, 'be well'; the earliest versions were warmed mead with roasted crab apples bursting on top, a drink called lambswool.
Q 10Kissing under the mistletoe is first noted as popular among which group in late-18th-century England?
Servants
Kissing under the mistletoe was first noted as popular among servants in late-18th-century England; Washington Irving described the custom in 1820, with a berry plucked from the sprig for each kiss.
Q 11What is traditionally placed at the very top of a Christmas tree?
A star
The most traditional Christmas tree toppers are a star, representing the Star of Bethlehem, or an angel, symbolizing the angel Gabriel from the Nativity story.
Q 12Which country has sent London a Christmas tree for Trafalgar Square every year since 1947?
Norway
Norway has given the Trafalgar Square tree every year since 1947 as thanks for British support during the Second World War; the spruce is felled in the forests outside Oslo each November.
Q 13How many numbered doors or windows do most standard Advent calendars feature?
24
Standard Advent calendars have 24 doors, one for each day from 1 to 24 December; because Advent's first Sunday moves between 27 November and 3 December, reusable calendars simply start on 1 December.
Q 21Which New Year's custom do historians trace to Babylonians making promises to their gods?
Making resolutions
Making resolutions is the custom: the Babylonians made promises to their gods at the start of each year, and the Romans later adopted the practice with their January new year.
Q 22Which bird is traditionally served as the main course for Thanksgiving dinner in the United States?
Turkey
Turkey is the traditional main course for Thanksgiving dinner in the United States, a custom that has been observed for many years.
Q 23Which Easter activity did Florida's Cypress Gardens stage with a record 501,000 eggs in 2007?
Egg hunt
Q 14How many Yule Lads, trolls with names like Spoon-Licker and Door-Slammer, visit Icelandic children one per night before Christmas?
13
13 lads arrive over the 13 nights before Christmas, leaving gifts in shoes on windowsills, or a rotten potato for naughty children; they are the sons of the ogress Grýla.
Q 15What sweet treat is commonly left out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve in many Western cultures?
Cookies
Cookies and a glass of milk are the classic Christmas Eve offering for Santa in the United States; the half-eaten plate found the next morning serves as 'evidence' of his visit.
Q 16What nine-branched candelabrum is lit during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah?
Menorah
The Hanukkah menorah, or hanukkiah, has nine branches: eight for the nights plus the shamash, the helper candle that lights the rest. The ancient Temple's menorah had seven.
Q 17Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by activist Maulana Karenga in the aftermath of which event?
The Watts riots
Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 after the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles, modelling it on African harvest festivals; it runs from 26 December to 1 January.
Q 18What traditional game is played with a four-sided spinning top during Hanukkah?
Dreidel
The dreidel is the Hanukkah spinning top; each of its four Hebrew letters fixes the outcome of a spin—nothing, all, half, or put in—in a game played for coins or chocolate gelt.
Q 19In what season does Diwali, the Festival of Lights, typically occur?
Autumn
Diwali falls in autumn, between mid-October and mid-November, because its date shifts with the Hindu lunisolar calendar; the celebrations run for five days.
Q 20What type of lamp is commonly lit as part of Diwali celebrations?
Diya
Diyas, small clay oil lamps, are lit in rows for Diwali; the Skanda Purana describes them as symbolising parts of the sun, the cosmic giver of light and energy.
An Easter egg hunt: Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven, Florida, hid 501,000 eggs for 9,753 children on 1 April 2007, the Guinness record for the largest hunt.
Q 24In Scottish Hogmanay first-footing, which visitor is preferred as the first across the threshold after midnight?
A tall, dark-haired man
The visitor should bring gifts such as coal, salt, shortbread or whisky; one theory holds the dark-hair preference dates to Viking times, when a blond stranger at the door meant trouble.
Q 25Traditionally, what does finishing a bowl of tteokguk on Korea's Lunar New Year do?
Makes the eater a year older
It makes the eater a year older, which is why Koreans ask 'how many bowls of tteokguk have you eaten?' to ask someone's age; the white rice cakes stand for a clean start.
Q 26At Japan's Setsubun festival each February, families shout 'Demons out, fortune in' while throwing what at a relative in an ogre mask?
Roasted soybeans
Roasted soybeans are hurled in a rite called mamemaki; afterwards you eat one bean for every year of your age, plus one more for luck.
Q 27In Mexico, whoever finds the figurine in the Rosca de Reyes must host a party on which feast day?
Candlemas, 2 February
Finding the figurine obliges you to host the tamales party on Candlemas, 2 February (Día de la Candelaria); the hidden figure represents the Christ Child concealed from Herod during the flight into Egypt.
Q 28Colombia's Día de las Velitas on 7 December falls on the eve of which feast?
Immaculate Conception
8 December is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a public holiday in Colombia; the candle custom dates from 1854, when Pope Pius IX defined the doctrine as dogma and Colombians lit candles to celebrate.
Q 29What event does Ethiopia's Timkat festival, with its tabot procession, celebrate?
The baptism of Jesus
Timkat is the Ethiopian Orthodox Epiphany, celebrating the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan; on 19 January the tabot, a model of the Ark of the Covenant, is carried to water where the liturgy is held before dawn.
Q 30The girl leading Scandinavia's Saint Lucy's Day procession wears a white robe and what else?
A crown of lit candles
A crown of lit candles tops the Lucia's white robe; legend says Lucy wore candles on her head to keep both hands free while carrying food to Christians hiding in Rome's catacombs. Stockholm crowned its first newspaper Lucia in 1927.