Holidays where you fast
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Holidays Where You Fast — Daily trivia Wednesday, September 9, 2026: questions and answers
All 10 questions with answers and explanations. Play this daily
Q 01Why does Ramadan start about eleven days earlier each year?
- AThe Islamic calendar is lunar
- BIt tracks the spring equinox
- CScholars vote on the date
- DIt follows the Persian solar year
Show answer
The Islamic calendar is lunar
The Islamic calendar is lunar, twelve moon-months of about 354 days, so Ramadan drifts roughly eleven days earlier against the solar year and cycles through all four seasons in about 33 years.
Q 02Ash Wednesday's ashes are traditionally made by burning what?
- ALast year's Palm Sunday palms
- BOlive wood from the altar
- CLeftover Christmas candles
- DParchment prayer slips
Show answer
Last year's Palm Sunday palms
Last year's Palm Sunday palms are burned to make the ashes, which are applied to foreheads with the words 'Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'
Q 03Lent means 40 fast days, so why does it span 46 days?
- ASundays are not counted
- BHoly Week is added on top
- CIt follows the lunar calendar
- DMedieval popes extended it
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Sundays are not counted
Sundays are not counted as fast days in the Western church, being feast days of the Resurrection, so the six Sundays between Ash Wednesday and Easter stretch 40 fast days across 46 calendar days.
Q 04What famously fills Israel's car-free roads on Yom Kippur?
- AChildren on bicycles
- BMarathon runners
- COutdoor prayer services
- DMilitary parades
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Children on bicycles
Children on bicycles take over the highways: almost nobody drives on Yom Kippur, broadcasting stops and the airport closes, so even secular Israelis treat the empty roads as a once-a-year cycling holiday.
Q 05Who traditionally fasts on the day before Passover?
- AFirstborn sons
- BRabbis
- CEngaged couples
- DMourners
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Firstborn sons
Firstborn sons fast on the eve of Passover in thanks for being spared in the tenth plague, though most get out of it by attending a siyum, a celebratory meal marking the completion of a Talmud tractate.
Q 06Karwa Chauth fasters traditionally first glimpse the moon through what?
- AA sieve
- BA mirror
- CA wedding ring
- DA brass lamp
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A sieve
A sieve: at moonrise the fasting wife views the moon through it, then looks at her husband's face through it, ending a sunrise-to-moonrise fast kept for his long life.
Q 07What do Jews avoid on Tisha B'Av because it brings joy?
- AStudying Torah
- BLighting candles
- CSpeaking Hebrew
- DPraying aloud
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Studying Torah
Studying Torah is forbidden on Tisha B'Av because it gladdens the heart; mourners sit on low stools reading Lamentations, and even greeting one another with 'hello' is traditionally avoided.
Q 08Which religion observes an annual nineteen-day sunrise-to-sunset fast for adult members?
- AJainism
- BBaháʼí Faith
- CZoroastrianism
- DSikhism
Show answer
Baháʼí Faith
Baháʼí Faith members aged 15 to 70 fast from sunrise to sunset through the nineteen-day month of Loftiness, and the fast ends at Naw-Rúz, the new year, on the spring equinox.
Q 09What is the annual Jain period of fasting and forgiveness-asking called?
- ADiwali
- BHoli
- CMahavir Jayanti
- DParyushan
Show answer
Paryushan
Paryushan grew out of the monsoon retreat, when wandering monks stayed put to avoid trampling insects, and it closes with Samvatsari, when Jains ask everyone's forgiveness.
Q 10Sunni Muslims fast on Ashura to mark what?
- AMoses escaping Pharaoh
- BMuhammad's first revelation
- CThe flight to Medina
- DAbraham's test with his son
Show answer
Moses escaping Pharaoh
Moses escaping Pharaoh is the reason given in hadith: Muhammad found Medina's Jews fasting on that day, said Muslims had more claim to Moses, and fasted too; Shia Muslims instead mourn Husayn's death at Karbala on Ashura.
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