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60 free Holidays Around the World trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Every culture has a day it stops for, and this quiz travels through 55 of them. There are 55 global holiday trivia questions with answers covering the big religious festivals (Diwali, Eid, Hanukkah, Passover, Vesak, Ramadan, Yom Kippur), the great new years (Lunar New Year, Nowruz, Songkran, Tết, Hogmanay), harvest and ancestor days (Chuseok, Obon, Day of the Dead, Qingming, Pongal), and national days from Bastille Day and Waitangi Day to Canada Day and Cinco de Mayo. It also stops at the strange and specific: the tomato fight in Buñol, the exploding snowman in Zurich, the day Bali switches off its airport, the burning of a Viking galley in Shetland, Krampus with his birch rods, and the Japanese holiday invented by a marshmallow company. Questions run from easy to expert, with difficulty marked on each one, so it works for a classroom, a pub quiz or a holiday party. Every answer is checked against Wikipedia's article on the holiday in question and each question shows its citation.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Diwali commemorates which figure's return to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana?
Rama
Homes are lit with diyas, and the goddess Lakshmi is worshipped for prosperity; celebrations run about five days.
Q 02Which observance on the 15th day, with children carrying lights and solving riddles, ends Chinese New Year celebrations?
The Lantern Festival
Children carry paper lanterns and solve the riddles written on them; the whole period is officially the Spring Festival.
Q 03What are the home altars built for Mexico's Day of the Dead called?
Ofrendas
They hold the favourite foods and drinks of the departed, decorated with marigolds called cempasúchil; UNESCO listed the tradition in 2008.
Q 04Holi, the Hindu festival of colours, celebrates the love between which two deities?
Radha and Krishna
It falls on the full moon of Phalguna, usually mid-March, and lasts a night and a day.
Q 05Songkran, the Thai New Year celebrated on 13 April, is famous for what public activity?
Water fights
The soaking symbolises ritual cleansing; the word comes from Sanskrit for 'astrological passage'.
Q 06Eid al-Fitr falls on the first day of which month of the Islamic calendar?
Shawwal
Its focus on food earns it the nickname 'Sweet Eid' or 'Sugar Feast'.
Q 07How many nights does Hanukkah last?
Eight
The menorah has nine branches: eight lights plus the shamash used to light them.
Q 08Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by which activist?
Maulana Karenga
The name comes from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning 'first fruits'; it runs December 26 to January 1.
Q 09Rio de Janeiro's Carnival, the world's biggest, draws roughly how many people onto the streets each day?
Two million
The first Rio Carnival was held in 1723; today more than 200 samba schools compete.
Q 10The first Oktoberfest, in October 1810, celebrated what event?
A royal wedding
Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese, and the meadow was named Theresienwiese in her honour.
Q 11Bastille Day on 14 July marks the storming of the Bastille in which year?
1789
The Paris parade on the Champs-Élysées is described as the oldest and largest military parade in Europe.
Q 12Guy Fawkes was arrested on 5 November 1605 while guarding explosives placed beneath what?
The House of Lords
The plotters meant to kill James I; Londoners lit bonfires to celebrate his survival, and Parliament made the day an annual thanksgiving.
Q 13Midsummer celebrations in Europe were traditionally fixed to the feast day of which biblical figure on 24 June?
John the Baptist
Bonfires, maypole dancing and feasting mark the day; the Romans reckoned 24 June as the middle of summer.
Q 21Waitangi Day, New Zealand's national day on 6 February, marks the signing of a treaty in which year?
1840
It was first celebrated in 1934 and became a public holiday in 1974.
Q 22Australia Day on 26 January marks the 1788 landing of what?
The First Fleet
Arthur Phillip raised the Union Flag at Sydney Cove; some Australians mark the day as Invasion Day or Survival Day instead.
Q 23Canada Day was known by what name until 1982?
Dominion Day
It marks the 1867 union of the Canadas, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; the rename came the year the constitution was patriated.
Q 14Japan's Obon festival, when ancestral spirits return home, traditionally includes which dance?
Bon Odori
Families visit and clean graves; the festival has been observed in Japan for more than 500 years.
Q 15Chuseok, Korea's harvest festival, falls on the 15th day of which lunar month?
The eighth
Families eat songpyeon rice cakes and perform charye memorial rites for their ancestors.
Q 16La Tomatina, the tomato-throwing festival, is held in which Spanish town?
Buñol
It started spontaneously in 1945 and became a ticketed event capped at 20,000 in 2013, since the town has only about 9,000 residents.
Q 17Nowruz, the Persian New Year celebrated for over 3,000 years, is timed to what?
The spring equinox
Its roots are Zoroastrian and it usually falls between 19 and 22 March; the name simply means 'new day'.
Q 18During Thailand's Loy Krathong festival, decorated baskets are floated on rivers to thank whom?
The goddess of water
It falls on the full moon of the 12th Thai lunar month; the practice traces back to the Khmer Empire.
Q 19On Saint Lucy's Day, 13 December, girls in Sweden lead processions wearing what on their heads?
A crown of candles
They wear white dresses with red sashes and carry saffron buns; the legend says Lucy lit her way through the catacombs this way.
Q 20In much of Europe, 26 December is the feast of which early Christian martyr?
Stephen
Alms boxes in churches were opened for the poor on this day, one possible origin of the English name.
Q 24Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexico's 1862 victory over which country at the Battle of Puebla?
France
General Ignacio Zaragoza led the win; it is not Mexican Independence Day, which is 16 September.
Q 25Which Caribbean territory observes Saint Patrick's Day as a public holiday?
Montserrat
17 March is the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, who is said to be buried at Downpatrick.
Q 26In Alpine folklore, Krampus punishes naughty children on 5 December with what?
Birch rods
The horned figure was even banned in Austria in the 1930s under the Dollfuss regime.
Q 27According to Dutch tradition, Sinterklaas arrives each year by steamboat from which country?
Spain
He rides a white horse; the original Saint Nicholas was a Greek bishop of Myra in present-day Turkey.
Q 28Purim celebrates the foiling of Haman's plot, as told in which book of the Bible?
Esther
Mordecai and his cousin Queen Esther saved the Jews; the day involves feasting, gifts to the poor and costumes.
Q 29Passover commemorates the Israelites' Exodus from slavery in which land?
Egypt
The name recalls the tenth plague passing over doorframes marked with lamb's blood.
Q 30Vesak commemorates three events in the life of the Buddha: his birth, his death, and what?
His enlightenment
It takes its name from the lunar month of Vaisakha; East Asian traditions split the events into separate holidays.