September Trivia
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175 free September trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
55 free September trivia questions with answers. This trivia about September covers the whole month, not just the first day of school. It starts with the basics of the calendar (why a month named for seven is ninth, the sapphire and the aster, Virgo and Libra, when the equinox and Harvest Moon fall) and moves through the observances: Labor Day and Grandparents Day, Constitution Day, Patriot Day, Hispanic Heritage Month, Rosh Hashanah, Oktoberfest, Michaelmas, Talk Like a Pirate Day, Hobbit Day and the New Year of Ethiopia. Then it turns to September in history and culture: the eleven days Britain skipped in 1752, the start and end of World War II, Antietam, the Great Fire of London, the discovery of Neptune, Cal Ripken's streak, Star Trek's premiere, Google's founding, and the 21st night that Earth, Wind & Fire made famous. Use it for a back-to-school icebreaker, a September birthday party, a senior-centre round or a pub quiz's month-themed section. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia and primary sources, and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 175 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01September's name comes from the Latin word for which number?
Seven
Seven: September was the seventh month of the earliest Roman calendar; with January and February added, it became the ninth but kept its name.
Q 02How many days does September have?
30
September has 30 days; in the Roman republican calendar it had only 29, until the calendar reform of 46 BC gave it one more.
Q 03What is September's birthstone?
Sapphire
Sapphire: the name goes back to the Greek sappheiros, a word that probably meant not this gem but lapis lazuli, a different blue stone altogether.
Q 04Which of these is one of September's birth flowers?
Aster
Aster shares September with the morning glory; its name is the Greek word for star, given for the shape of its flower head.
Q 05Someone born on September 25 falls under which zodiac sign?
Libra
Libra takes over from Virgo around September 23; its brightest stars still bear Arabic names meaning the northern and southern claw, from the days when they were drawn as part of the Scorpion.
Q 06Autumn counted from September 1, rather than from the equinox, is known as which kind of autumn?
Meteorological
Meteorological: forecasters split the year into four blocks of three whole months so that seasonal statistics can be compared from one year to the next; astronomical autumn waits for the equinox, about three weeks later.
Q 07On the day of the September equinox, the Sun stands directly overhead at noon on which line?
The Equator
The Equator: the Sun crosses it heading south at the September equinox, which can fall anywhere from the 21st to the 24th because the calendar year and the tropical year don't quite match.
Q 08The Harvest Moon is defined as the full moon that occurs when?
Nearest the autumnal equinox
Nearest the autumnal equinox: the Harvest Moon can come up to two weeks either side of it, so some years it falls in October; its bright early evenings once let farm crews keep harvesting after sunset.
Q 09Britain dropped eleven days from September 1752 when it switched to which calendar?
The Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar: Wednesday 2 September 1752 was followed by Thursday 14 September, and the same Act moved the start of the legal year from 25 March to 1 January.
Q 10US births peak in mid-September, yet which holiday is the rarest US birthday apart from leap day?
Christmas Day
Christmas Day: count back nine months from the September peak and you land in the holiday season, yet few babies arrive on the holidays themselves, while Valentine's Day runs above average.
Q 11Usenet's 'Eternal September' of 1993 was named after the yearly September arrival of which newcomers?
College freshmen
College freshmen: each September new students got their first accounts and swamped Usenet until they learned its manners; from 1993 home internet services kept newcomers arriving all year, so that September never ended.
Q 12In the United States, Labor Day falls on which day of September?
The first Monday
The first Monday: the first Labor Day parade, in New York City in 1882, was held on a Tuesday, and some 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to join it.
Q 13In the US, National Grandparents Day falls in September on which day?
Q 21What instrument is sounded during Rosh Hashanah?
A shofar, made from a ram's horn
A shofar, made from a ram's horn, is blown as a wake-up call to reflect and repent; apples dipped in honey are eaten to wish for a sweet year.
Q 22What did Munich's first Oktoberfest, held in 1810, celebrate?
A royal wedding
A royal wedding: Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on 12 October 1810, and the festival meadow was named Theresienwiese, known to locals as the Wiesn.
Q 23What did a founder of Talk Like a Pirate Day yell in pain during a 1995 racquetball game?
Aaarrr!
The first Sunday after Labor Day
The first Sunday after Labor Day: the holiday grew out of a grassroots campaign begun in 1970 by Marian McQuade of West Virginia, and President Jimmy Carter proclaimed it nationally.
Q 14US Constitution Day falls on September 17 to mark which event of 1787?
Delegates signed the document in Philadelphia
Delegates signed the document in Philadelphia, 39 of the 42 present putting their names to it; Rhode Island had refused to send anyone to the convention at all.
Q 15The Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day in American military history, was fought in which state?
Maryland
Maryland: Lee's first invasion of the North was stopped beside Antietam Creek at Sharpsburg with about 23,000 casualties, and the result gave Lincoln the confidence to announce emancipation.
Q 16Which Baltimore fort's bombardment by the British in 1814 inspired the US national anthem?
Fort McHenry
Fort McHenry withstood 25 hours of shelling on September 13-14, 1814; its commander had ordered a flag so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance.
Q 17Which president signed the law that made September 11 Patriot Day in the United States?
George W. Bush
George W. Bush had first proclaimed a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Friday, September 14, 2001; Congress then fixed the 11th, and he approved its resolution that December.
Q 18Who gave the Grito de Dolores of 1810, marked by Mexico's Independence Day on September 16?
Miguel Hidalgo
Miguel Hidalgo, a parish priest, launched Mexico's war of independence with the cry; each year the president repeats it from the National Palace balcony, ringing the bell Hidalgo used.
Q 19Which South American country celebrates its independence day on September 7?
Brazil
Brazil: Dom Pedro, the Portuguese king's own son, declared independence beside the Ipiranga stream on 7 September 1822 and was crowned the new country's first emperor.
Q 20Which African country, whose calendar has thirteen months, celebrates its New Year, Enkutatash, each September?
Ethiopia
Ethiopia: Enkutatash means 'gift of jewels'; tradition says the Queen of Sheba came home from visiting King Solomon on that day and her chiefs welcomed her with jewels.
Aaarrr!: the founders, John Baur and Mark Summers, built a holiday on the yelp and set it for September 19, Summers's ex-wife's birthday, because that date was stuck in his head.
Q 24Hobbit Day, September 22, marks the shared birthday of which two characters?
Bilbo and Frodo Baggins
Bilbo and Frodo Baggins share the day: The Lord of the Rings opens with their joint party, where Bilbo, turning 111, bids his guests good-bye and vanishes with the help of his ring.
Q 25Why does Earth, Wind & Fire's 'September' name the 21st night, by its co-writer's account?
It simply sang best
It simply sang best: the writers tried every date from the first onwards, Allee Willis said, and the 21st just sang better than any of the others.
Q 26The Peace Bell rung at UN headquarters each September 21, the International Day of Peace, was a gift from which country?
Japan
Japan: the bell was presented in 1954 and cast from coins donated by people from some 60 countries; the Secretary-General rings it each year to mark the day.
Q 27Michaelmas, September 29, joins Lady Day and Midsummer Day among England's traditional what?
Quarter days
Quarter days: on these four dates, three months apart, rents fell due, servants were hired and leases began; Oxford and Cambridge named their autumn term Michaelmas after it.
Q 28Which group does Japan honour with a national holiday on the third Monday of September?
The elderly
The elderly: Respect for the Aged Day, Keiro no Hi, kept a fixed mid-September date until 2003, when the Happy Monday System moved it to a Monday to give people a long weekend.
Q 29On Prinsjesdag, the third Tuesday of September, the Dutch monarch does what?
Gives the Speech from the Throne
Gives the Speech from the Throne: the monarch sets out the government's plans to both houses of parliament, on a date fixed by the constitution, and the finance minister then presents the budget.
Q 30Australians wear a sprig of which plant on September 1, the first day of their spring?
Wattle
Wattle: the golden wattle is Australia's floral emblem, and a wattle club began pressing for a September 'Wattle Day' in 1899 to make the flower a symbol of patriotism; the date became national in 1992.