143 Fun Facts About December Holiday

Which European country originated the modern Christmas tree tradition in the 16th century?

The modern Christmas tree tradition arose in 16th-century Germany; Martin Luther is often credited with first adding lighted candles to an indoor evergreen.

Boxing Day, celebrated on December 26th, originated as a day for what purpose?

Tipping tradespeople and servants was done with a 'Christmas box' of money or gifts; tradesmen went round their customers on the day to collect theirs.

In Alpine folklore, which horned figure joins Saint Nicholas on 5 December to punish naughty children?

Krampus is said to punish the naughty with birch rods while the saint hands out small gifts; on that evening, called Krampusnacht, costumed devils parade through Alpine towns.

Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of which month of the Hebrew calendar?

Hanukkah begins on 25 Kislev; because the Hebrew calendar is lunisolar, the festival falls anywhere from late November to late December on the civil calendar.

Which Swahili word for 'Unity' names the first principle of Kwanzaa?

Umoja is the first day's reply to the Kwanzaa greeting 'Habari gani?', which is answered each day with that day's principle; it calls for unity in the family, community, nation and race.

Which Christmas custom began with 19th-century Protestants chalking 24 marks on the door?

The Advent calendar began as 24 chalk strokes that children rubbed out one a day; printer Gerhard Lang made the best-known early printed versions in the 1900s.

Kwanzaa was created in 1966 in the aftermath of which event?

Kwanzaa was created in 1966 after the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles; its creator's stated aim was to give Black Americans a holiday celebrating their own history rather than imitating the dominant society's.

Who authored the classic holiday novella 'A Christmas Carol'?

Charles Dickens wrote the novella in six weeks in late 1843 and divided it into five 'staves' rather than chapters; the first edition sold out by Christmas Eve.

In an old English mistletoe custom, what was plucked from the sprig after each kiss until the kissing had to stop?

A berry came off with every kiss until the sprig was bare; the custom caught on among servants in 18th-century England, and a woman who refused the kiss was said to invite bad luck.

Rovaniemi, a city on the Arctic Circle that bills itself as the official hometown of Santa Claus, is in which country?

Finland's Rovaniemi lost about nine-tenths of its buildings in the Second World War and was rebuilt to a plan by architect Alvar Aalto; it has since trademarked the 'official hometown' title.

Russia's Ded Moroz, 'Grandfather Frost', hands out New Year gifts with which granddaughter?

The Snow Maiden, Snegurochka, joins Ded Moroz at New Year because the Soviet state banned Christmas, then let the decorated tree and the gift-giving return in the 1930s as part of a secular New Year holiday.

In Dutch tradition, Sinterklaas arrives each November by steamboat from which country?

Sinterklaas arrives by steamboat from Spain each November; he then rides a white horse over the rooftops, and older songs threatened to carry naughty children back to Spain in a sack.

Which festive novelty did London confectioner Tom Smith devise after seeing French paper-wrapped bonbons?

The Christmas cracker began as Tom Smith's sweet in a twist of paper with a motto inside; the bang came later, and his son Walter added the paper hats.

In Catalonia, children feed and blanket a hollow log before Christmas so that it will do what?

The Tió de Nadal will 'excrete' presents when beaten: on Christmas Eve or Day the family thumps it with sticks and sings, then finds sweets and small gifts under its blanket.

In Japan, a 1974 marketing campaign turned which food into the classic Christmas dinner?

Fried chicken from KFC caught on through the 'Kentucky for Christmas' campaign, which grew from manager Takeshi Okawara's 'party barrel', sold as a stand-in for the roast bird of an American Christmas.

The real 'Good King Wenceslas' of the Christmas carol was a 10th-century duke of which land?

Bohemia's Wenceslas was only a duke in his lifetime; an emperor granted him the title of king after his death, and an English hymnwriter turned his legend into the carol in 1853.

What is the four-sided spinning top, marked with Hebrew letters, that children play with during Hanukkah?

Dreidel letters are popularly read as an acronym for 'a great miracle happened there', though the game itself likely derives from the European teetotum.

Which of Kwanzaa's Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba) means collective work and responsibility?

Ujima, collective work and responsibility, means treating a neighbour's problems as your own to solve; it is the reply to the greeting 'Habari gani?' on the third day.

Hanukkah, which lasts eight nights, shares which nickname with the Hindu celebration of Diwali?

Festival of Lights goes back to the historian Josephus, who called the holiday 'Lights'; its eight nights recall a one-day supply of Temple oil said to have burned for eight days.

What is the traditional name for the communal feast held on the sixth day of Kwanzaa?

The Karamu, held on 31 December, the sixth day of Kwanzaa, gathers family and community for food, music and reflection before the final day of the celebration.

Which item is traditionally left in shoes or stockings on St. Nicholas Day in some European countries?

Small treats or coins echo the legend of Nicholas of Myra tossing gold through a poor family's window, where, in one telling, it landed in shoes or stockings drying by the fire.

What colour is the centre candle on a Kwanzaa candle holder, lit first?

Black sits in the centre and is lit first, with three red candles to its left and three green to its right: the same three colours as the Pan-African flag adopted by Marcus Garvey's movement in 1920.

What is the name of the extra candle on a Hanukkah menorah that is used to light the others?

The shamash exists because the Hanukkah flames themselves may not be used for any practical task; it sits higher or lower than the row it serves.

What is the name of the candle holder used in Kwanzaa celebrations?

The kinara is the Kwanzaa candle holder; the first one was little more than a wooden log with holes drilled in it to hold the candles.

In which country was the Yule Goat once regarded as an invisible spirit that checked Christmas preparations were done right?

Sweden's Julbocken appeared some time before Christmas to make sure the Yule preparations were done right; the goat remains a Christmas decoration there and across Scandinavia.

What traditional fried potato dish is often eaten during Hanukkah?

Latkes are fried in oil to recall the Temple oil said to have burned far longer than its supply allowed; cheese pancakes were the usual latke until potatoes reached Eastern Europe in the 19th century.

Which Christmas standard was first published in 1857 under the title 'The One Horse Open Sleigh'?

Jingle Bells was not written as a Christmas song; in December 1965 the Gemini 6 astronauts played it on a smuggled harmonica and sleigh bells, one of the first songs broadcast from space.

Iceland's thirteen Christmas mischief-makers, among them Spoon-Licker and Door-Slammer, are known by what name?

The Yule Lads come to town one a night over the 13 nights before Christmas, leaving small gifts in shoes on the windowsill, or a rotten potato for a child who has misbehaved.

Kwanzaa begins on 26 December and ends on which holiday?

New Year's Day is the last of seven days because one candle is lit each evening for each of the seven principles, beginning the day after Christmas.

Hanukkah gelt given to children is most often sold in what form?

Foil-wrapped chocolate coins replaced or supplemented real money in the 20th century; in 1958 the Bank of Israel even issued commemorative coins for use as gelt.

Which Christmas drink, spiked with smuggled whiskey, fuelled an 1826 riot among cadets at West Point?

Eggnog made with the smuggled whiskey gave the Eggnog Riot its name: cadets smashed windows and stair rails, and twenty of them were court-martialled.

On 26 December, groups in Ireland and the Isle of Man traditionally went out to 'hunt' which small bird?

The custom survives as Wren Day, with costumed 'wren boys' parading through towns such as Dingle in County Kerry; no real bird is hunted today.

Which reindeer was created in 1939 for a Montgomery Ward department store's Christmas giveaway booklet?

Rudolph was written by Montgomery Ward copywriter Robert L. May, who weighed the names Rollo and Reginald first; the store gave away more than two million copies that Christmas.

The Striezelmarkt, first held in 1434 and among the earliest Christmas markets, is in which city?

Dresden's Striezelmarkt began in 1434 as a single day's trading on the Monday before Christmas; it now fills the same square, the Altmarkt, for weeks.

Bodhi Day, observed on 8 December in Japan, commemorates which event?

The Buddha's enlightenment is said to have come after he gave up years of extreme fasting and resolved to sit beneath a fig tree, now called the Bodhi tree, until he understood suffering.

Which Tchaikovsky ballet features Clara, a Sugar Plum Fairy and a battle with the Mouse King?

The Nutcracker gave the Sugar Plum Fairy the bell-like celesta, an instrument so new in 1892 that Tchaikovsky's score lets a piano stand in if none can be found.

Which Christmas character's small heart 'grew three sizes' in a single day?

The Grinch was black and white with pink eyes in Dr. Seuss's 1957 book; he only turned green when Chuck Jones animated the story for television in 1966.

The Christmas carol 'Silent Night' originated in which country?

Austria's village of Oberndorf first heard the carol on Christmas Eve 1818, sung to a guitar; the popular tale that the church organ had broken down has never been confirmed.

What three gifts did the magi bring in the Christmas story?

Gold, frankincense, and myrrh are the only count Matthew gives: his Gospel never says how many magi came, and the tradition of three grew from the three gifts.

Which whole roasted pig is the centrepiece of Noche Buena, the Christmas Eve feast in the Philippines?

Lechon is cooked whole over charcoal and anchors Noche Buena, the open-house feast that follows the last of the pre-Christmas Masses and runs on past midnight.

What is the traditional German Christmas bread made with dried fruit and powdered sugar?

Stollen began as a plain Advent loaf of little more than flour and water, because bakers could not use butter during the fast; a papal 'Butter Letter' later let them use it.

The song 'Auld Lang Syne' is traditionally sung to celebrate the arrival of which holiday?

'Auld Lang Syne' is a traditional Scottish song, widely sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve.

Which plant, known for its red and green leaves, is a popular Christmas decoration?

The poinsettia, native to Mexico and Central America, takes its English name from Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first US minister to Mexico, who introduced it to the United States in the 1820s.

Whose chained ghost, Scrooge's dead partner, visits him in A Christmas Carol?

Jacob Marley's ghost drags chains and money boxes 'forged in life' and warns Scrooge that three more spirits will follow.

Which Roman festival, from 17 December, featured gift-giving and masters waiting on slaves?

Saturnalia, honouring the god Saturn, opened on 17 December and eventually stretched to seven days ending on 23 December; it is often cited as an ancestor of later midwinter customs.

The Christmas Eve 'Feast of the Seven Fishes' is a tradition among American families with roots where?

The feast has roots in southern Italy and was carried over by immigrants; Christmas Eve was traditionally a day of abstinence from meat, so the table fills with fish and seafood instead.

In the 1823 poem 'A Visit from St. Nicholas', how many reindeer pull the sleigh?

The poem names them all - Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blixem - the last two later becoming Donner and Blitzen.

Which saint's feast day falls on 26 December, Boxing Day in Britain?

Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, is honoured on 26 December; the carol 'Good King Wenceslas' opens with the king looking out 'on the Feast of Stephen'.

In Swedish folklore, which gnome-like farm spirit became the Christmas Eve gift-bringer?

The tomte (jultomten), a small bearded farm gnome of Swedish folklore, took over gift-bringing duties in the 19th century; families leave him a bowl of rice porridge on Christmas Eve.

Which spiced mulled wine, served hot with almonds and raisins, is the Nordic Christmas drink?

Glögg is short for glödgat vin, Swedish for mulled wine, from the word for an ember; it is poured hot over the almonds and raisins waiting in the cup.

Which country gives London its Trafalgar Square Christmas tree each year, in thanks for wartime support?

Norway's king, Haakon VII, spent the Second World War in exile in Britain; the spruce that Oslo has sent each winter since the war is the thank-you.

Which star-shaped lantern is the emblematic Christmas decoration of the Philippines?

The parol, a star-shaped lantern traditionally built from bamboo and paper, represents the Star of Bethlehem and hangs outside Filipino homes through the Christmas season.

The Nobel Prizes are presented in Stockholm and Oslo every December 10, the anniversary of what event?

The founder's death: Alfred Nobel died at San Remo on December 10, 1896, and his will, which left most of his fortune to fund the prizes, was contested by his own family.

Churches celebrating Christmas on 7 January keep 25 December of which calendar?

The Julian calendar runs 13 days behind the Gregorian until 2100, so its 25 December falls on 7 January; Russian, Serbian and Ethiopian churches keep Christmas then.

Which New York venue has hosted the Rockettes' Christmas Spectacular since 1933?

The Rockettes' Christmas Spectacular opened at Radio City Music Hall in 1933; its 'Parade of the Wooden Soldiers' routine, ending in a slow-motion toppling line, dates from the earliest shows.

Imani, the seventh and final Kwanzaa principle, means what?

Imani, or faith, asks celebrants to believe in their people, parents, teachers and leaders and in the righteousness of their struggle; the holiday is cultural, so many who keep it also celebrate Christmas.

Who wrote the bilingual 1970 Christmas hit whose English line is 'I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas'?

José Feliciano's 'Feliz Navidad' gets by on two lines of lyrics: a traditional Spanish Christmas and New Year greeting, then one English sentence sung over and over.

In 'The Twelve Days of Christmas', what gift arrives on the fifth day?

Five gold rings owes its drawn-out tune to English composer Frederic Austin, whose 1909 arrangement of a folk melody is the one sung today; the words were in print by about 1780.

Which British monarch delivered the first televised Christmas broadcast?

Elizabeth II gave it live from Sandringham in 1957, twenty-five years after her grandfather George V began the tradition on radio; later messages were recorded in advance.

Which saint is honoured across Scandinavia each December by processions led by a candle-crowned girl?

Saint Lucy's Day falls on 13 December; the modern procession took off in the 1920s, when a Stockholm newspaper ran a contest to choose the city's Lucia.

What do Japanese families traditionally eat on Ōmisoka, 31 December, to see out the old year?

Long noodles of buckwheat, toshikoshi soba, stand for crossing from one year to the next, and because they break easily they are said to cut away the old year's hardships.

In Scottish Hogmanay tradition, what kind of person is preferred as the 'first-foot' after midnight?

A tall, dark-haired man is the luckiest first-foot; the first person over the threshold is said to set the household's luck for the year, ideally bearing coal, shortbread or whisky.

At Hogmanay in Stonehaven, Scotland, what do marchers swing around their heads along the High Street at midnight?

Fireballs made of chicken wire stuffed with paper and rags are whirled on wire handles as the midnight chimes ring out, then thrown, still burning, into the harbour.

France's bûche de Noël, a Christmas sponge cake, is made in the shape of what?

A log: the cake copies the Yule log that French families once burned at Christmas, sprinkling it with wine before lighting it, and its icing is finished to look like bark.

Festivus, the December 23 'holiday for the rest of us', was popularized by which sitcom?

Seinfeld's 1997 episode 'The Strike' was co-written by Dan O'Keefe, whose father Daniel had invented the holiday for his family; it features an aluminum pole and the airing of grievances.

Which fruit shares pride of place with watermelon at Iran's Yalda Night, held on the year's longest night?

Pomegranates, with watermelon, are the Yalda table's centrepiece; their red flesh symbolises the crimson of dawn and the glow of life, and families stay up past midnight reading the poetry of Hafez.

At Poland's Wigilia supper on Christmas Eve, what is traditionally tucked under the tablecloth?

Hay recalls the manger; the meal is meatless, begins when the first star appears and traditionally runs to twelve dishes, read as the twelve Apostles or the twelve months to come.

Which glutinous rice balls, symbolizing reunion, are eaten at China's solstice Dongzhi Festival?

Tangyuan sounds close to tuanyuan, the Chinese word for reunion, and the balls' round shape stands for a family made whole; they are served in a sweet broth.

Which Mexican city hosts the Night of the Radishes carving contest every December 23?

Oaxaca's Noche de Rábanos began with farmers carving radishes to lure Christmas-market shoppers; the city made it a formal competition in 1897, with oversized radishes grown specially for it.

In Spanish-speaking countries, December 28, the Day of the Holy Innocents, is a day for what?

Pranks are the order of the day, much like April Fools': newspapers and television run spoof stories, and anyone who falls for a trick is called an 'inocente'.

NORAD's Santa tracker traces its origin to a 1955 newspaper ad, inviting children to phone Santa, placed by which store?

A Sears ad in Colorado Springs gave a number said to be one digit off an air-defence command line; Colonel Harry Shoup took a child's call and had his staff report Santa's position.

In Iceland, what gift is traditionally exchanged and enjoyed on Christmas Eve?

Books: Iceland's 'Christmas book flood' (Jólabókaflóð) dates from 1944, when wartime import limits were looser on paper than on other goods, and a catalogue of the season's new titles was first mailed to households.

What did The New York Times stage at New Year before its ball drop?

A fireworks display set off from the Times tower drew the crowds from 1904; owner Adolph Ochs added the lit ball in 1907, and only wartime dimouts in 1942 and 1943 have stopped it since.

In Spain, what do people eat twelve of at midnight on 31 December, one for each stroke of the clock?

Grapes stand for the twelve months ahead; the custom dates from at least 1895 and took off in 1909, when Alicante growers pushed it to sell a bumper harvest.

The caganer, a figurine tucked into Catalan nativity scenes, is depicted doing what?

The caganer is shown defecating: traditionally a peasant in a red barretina cap, trousers down, squatting in a corner of the scene; modern shops sell caganers of politicians, athletes and popes.

The hidden 'Christmas pickle' ornament, often billed as an old German custom, likely began where?

The tradition likely began in the United States in the late 19th century, when stores started selling imported German glass ornaments; a 2016 poll found that most Germans had never heard of it.

Which jelly-filled doughnut became Israel's signature Hanukkah treat after a 1920s labour-union campaign to create bakery jobs?

Sufganiyot were pushed by the Histadrut labour federation because, unlike pancakes fried at home, doughnuts were bought from bakeries, which meant work for bakers, drivers and shopkeepers.

Hanukkah marks the Temple's rededication after a revolt led by which Jewish rebels?

The Maccabees retook Jerusalem from the Seleucid king Antiochus IV, who had outlawed Jewish worship; the festival's Hebrew name means 'dedication', after their cleansing of the Temple.

Which Kwanzaa principle is Kujichagulia?

Kujichagulia means self-determination, the second of the seven principles, defined as the right 'to define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves'.

Which writer scripted King George V's first Royal Christmas Message, broadcast in 1932?

Rudyard Kipling drafted the 1932 message; the King had turned down the BBC a decade earlier, thinking radio mere entertainment, but agreed that year to help launch the new Empire Service.

Haddon Sundblom's paintings of a plump, red-suited Santa, begun in 1931, were advertisements for which company?

Coca-Cola's Santa was so widely seen that it spawned two urban legends: that the company invented him, and that he wears red and white to match its label.

Saint Nicholas, the model for Santa, was a 4th-century bishop of Myra in what is now which country?

Myra is modern Demre in Turkey; in 1087 sailors from Bari carried off most of his bones to the Basilica di San Nicola, and Venice later claimed the fragments left behind.

Christmas Island, named by a captain who sighted it on 25 December 1643, belongs to which country?

Australia took over Christmas Island in 1958, when Britain transferred it from Singapore; Captain William Mynors had named it as he sailed past on an East India Company ship.

The Legend of the Christmas Spider, strongest in Ukraine, explains the origin of which decoration?

In the legend a spider's webs turned to silver and gold on Christmas morning, giving rise to tinsel; finding a web on the tree is lucky, and Ukrainians hang spider ornaments called pavuchky.

Greek folklore's kallikantzaroi goblins spend the year underground cutting away at what?

The world tree holds up the earth in the usual telling; the goblins surface for the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany to cause mischief, then return to find it healed and must start again.

The Declaration of Christmas Peace is read at noon on Christmas Eve in which city, Finland's former capital?

In Turku the declaration is read from the balcony of the Brinkkala Mansion, its venue since 1886, continuing a tradition that reaches back to the 14th century; the crowd then sings the national anthem.

In Japan's New Year's Eve ritual of Joya no Kane, temple bells are usually rung how many times?

The bell is struck 108 times, one for each of the earthly desires (bonnō) counted in Buddhist teaching; the custom reached Japanese Zen temples from Song-dynasty China.

Which jazz pianist wrote the score, including 'Linus and Lucy', for A Charlie Brown Christmas?

Vince Guaraldi's jazz score, including 'Linus and Lucy', was itself unconventional; the 1965 special also used real children as voice actors, and despite CBS executives' fears it drew nearly half the viewing audience.

Which president lit the first National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse in Washington in 1923?

Calvin Coolidge pressed a button at dusk on Christmas Eve 1923 to light the tree and said nothing; the electrical industry had lobbied for the event to sell more Christmas lights.

Whose recording of 'White Christmas' is the best-selling physical single ever, at 50 million-plus?

Bing Crosby's 1942 master was worn out by repeated pressings, so the version usually heard today is a remake he recorded in 1947, copying the original session as closely as possible.

Emperor Aurelian is said to have founded a 25 December 'birthday of the sun' festival for which Roman god?

Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the 'birthday of the Invincible Sun', fell just after the solstice; scholars dispute whether Aurelian's Sol Invictus festival influenced the date of Christmas.

In which 1946 film does angel Clarence show George Bailey a world without him?

It's a Wonderful Life lost money in 1946; it became a Christmas fixture after its copyright lapsed in 1974 and television stations could air it every December for next to nothing.

Panettone, the tall fruit-studded Christmas bread, is most associated with which Italian city?

Milan claims panettone, whose name comes from panetto, a small loaf, plus an ending that means 'big'; one legend credits a baker's boy called Toni instead, hence 'pan de Toni'.

Which country's postal service says the North Pole lies within its borders, under the postcode H0H 0H0?

Canada claims Santa's address with a code that spells out his laugh, even though postcodes starting with H normally belong to the island of Montreal.

In 2013 the first day of Hanukkah fell on which American holiday, earning a mash-up nickname?

Thanksgiving and the first day of Hanukkah met on 28 November 2013, a pairing nicknamed Thanksgivukkah. The two calendars will not line up that way again in the foreseeable future.

Iceland's monstrous Yule Cat is said to eat people who have not received which gift before Christmas?

New clothes were the reward for farm workers who finished processing the autumn wool in time, so the threat of the giant cat kept everyone busy.

Festivus, the sitcom-born 23 December holiday, swaps the Christmas tree for a bare pole made of what?

Aluminum poles belong only to the television version: the writer's real family marked the day by nailing a clock in a bag to the wall.

La Befana, who fills children's stockings on the night of 5 January, is usually shown riding what?

A broomstick carries her through the air like a storybook witch, and she leaves coal or cinders for the children who have misbehaved.

Which Brothers Grimm tale about two children lost in a forest is credited with inspiring gingerbread houses?

Hansel and Gretel stumble on a cottage made of bread with sugar decorations, and edible copies of it became a Christmas craft once the tale was in print.

Edward H. Johnson, who made the first electrically lit Christmas tree in 1882, worked for which inventor?

Thomas Edison's business partner was vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, and he hand-wired 80 specially made red, white and blue bulbs the size of walnuts onto his own tree in New York.

Which scientist was born on Christmas Day 1642, by the calendar then in use in England?

Isaac Newton was born so premature and small that his mother said he could have fitted inside a quart mug, yet he lived to 84.

In a Kwanzaa table display, ears of which crop are set out to represent the family's children?

Corn stands for the children celebrating, and it may turn up again at the table as part of the holiday meal.

Which space mission's crew read the opening verses of Genesis on television while orbiting the Moon on Christmas Eve?

Apollo 8 was circling the Moon ten times in twenty hours, and about a quarter of the people then alive are estimated to have seen its broadcast.

Which 1990 comedy leaves young Kevin McCallister to defend his family's house from two burglars at Christmas?

Home Alone made a child star of Macaulay Culkin and stood as the highest-grossing live-action comedy until 2011.

Which actor plays Buddy, a human raised by Santa's helpers at the North Pole, in the 2003 comedy Elf?

Will Ferrell took a part for which Jim Carrey and Chris Farley had been early candidates when the script was first written in 1993, ten years before the film came out.

In the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, which New York department store hires Kris Kringle as its Santa?

Macy's takes Kris on after its parade Santa turns up drunk, and he is soon sending a shopper to another store for a hard-to-find toy fire engine.

Which singer co-wrote the 1994 hit All I Want for Christmas Is You with producer Walter Afanasieff?

Mariah Carey wrote the lyrics and shaped the melody in the summer of 1994, after her label boss kept pressing her to make a festive album.

Which comedian first performed The Chanukah Song, a roll call of Jewish celebrities, on Saturday Night Live in 1994?

Adam Sandler wrote it for Jewish children who felt left out at Christmas, and he came back with fresh lists of names in 1999 and 2002.

Sufganiyot, the deep-fried Hanukkah sweets dusted with powdered sugar, are best described as what kind of food?

Jelly doughnuts have a long paper trail: a recipe for jam sealed between two rounds of dough and fried was printed in a Nuremberg cookbook in 1485.

In the Talmud's Hanukkah story, a single day's supply of what kept the great menorah in Jerusalem alight far longer?

Olive oil for the lamp had to be ritually pure, and the Maccabees found just one container with the High Priest's seal unbroken.

In the Gospel accounts of the first Christmas, in which town in Judea is Jesus born?

Bethlehem was known as King David's birthplace, and Luke's Gospel has Joseph travel there for a Roman census because he belonged to David's house.

Which teen drama's Seth Cohen popularised Chrismukkah, a blend of two December holidays, for his interfaith family?

The O.C. brought the word to a wide audience in a 2003 episode, where Seth claims he invented the celebration aged six to honour his Jewish father and Protestant mother.

Hanukkah, from a Hebrew word for 'dedication', marks the recovery and rededication of which Jerusalem holy site?

The Second Temple had been looted and given over to a cult that included the worship of Zeus before the Maccabees won it back and purified it.

Which president lit the first National Menorah near the White House in 1979, beginning an annual Hanukkah ceremony?

Jimmy Carter lit the lamp and gave brief remarks, and three years later Ronald Reagan was credited with giving it its national title.

Which king outlawed Jewish religious rites in the 160s BCE, provoking the revolt that Hanukkah commemorates?

Antiochus IV broke with his dynasty's usual habit of tolerating local religions, and Jewish tradition remembers him as the villain of the Hanukkah story.

In a Kwanzaa display, what is the mkeka, on which the candle holder and the other symbols are set out?

A mat is the base of the whole display: the candles, the crops and a shared cup for giving thanks to ancestors are all arranged on top of it.

Kuumba, the principle marked on the sixth day of Kwanzaa, is usually translated as which quality?

Creativity, in the holiday's own wording, means leaving the community more beautiful and beneficial than it was when it was inherited.

Which Scottish poet sent the words of Auld Lang Syne to the Scots Musical Museum in 1788?

Robert Burns said he had taken the song down from an old man, and its first verse and chorus do resemble a ballad printed back in 1711.

Which Pacific nation's Line Islands, set to UTC+14, are the first places on Earth to enter each 1 January?

Kiribati keeps its easternmost atolls on the furthest-ahead time zone there is, so midnight reaches them before it reaches anywhere else.

African American Watch Night services recall 31 December 1862, a night spent awaiting which president's proclamation?

Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was due to take effect on 1 January 1863, and the vigil held in churches the night before was called Freedom's Eve.

Zamenhof Day, kept on 15 December by speakers worldwide, celebrates the creator of which constructed language?

Esperanto speakers mark the birthday of L. L. Zamenhof, who showed friends a first version of his international language at his own 19th birthday party in 1878.

Which Frankish king did Pope Leo III crown emperor of the Romans at mass in St. Peter's on Christmas Day 800?

Charlemagne became the first reigning emperor in the west since Romulus Augustulus was deposed in 476, more than three centuries earlier.

Which river did George Washington's army cross on Christmas night 1776 to surprise Hessian troops at Trenton?

The Delaware was running with floating ice that night, which the officer Henry Knox judged the most serious danger of the whole crossing.

Which religious group's leaders outlawed keeping Christmas in Boston in 1659, with a fine of five shillings?

The Puritans kept their ban for 22 years, repealing it in 1681 under pressure from the government in London, and celebrating Christmas only became fashionable around Boston in the mid-1800s.

Which saint is credited with staging the first nativity scene with live actors, at Greccio in 1223?

Francis of Assisi took the idea from a visit to the Holy Land, where he had been shown the grotto venerated as the place of the Nativity.

Which queen's family, pictured around their tree at Windsor Castle in 1848, made Christmas trees fashionable?

Victoria's tree crossed the Atlantic in 1850, when an American magazine copied the engraving but removed her tiara and Prince Albert's moustache to make the family look local.

Which Harper's Weekly cartoonist's 1860s drawings are generally recognised as the first pictures of the modern Santa?

Thomas Nast put his first Santa among Union soldiers in 1863, and his drawings of Uncle Sam shaped that figure's popular image as well.

Which New York scholar claimed authorship in 1837 of the anonymously published poem known as The Night Before Christmas?

Clement Clarke Moore's poem had first appeared without a name in a Troy newspaper in 1823, sent in by a friend, and the family of a rival claimant has long argued that their ancestor wrote it.

Which Adriatic port city has enshrined most of Saint Nicholas's bones since its merchants carried them off in 1087?

Bari's merchants took the bones from the saint's tomb without permission and enshrined them in the Basilica di San Nicola, which is why he is also known as Nicholas of Bari.

Which seasonal first did Sir Henry Cole commission from the artist John Callcott Horsley in London in 1843?

The Christmas card was a shrewd idea from a man who had helped introduce the Penny Post three years earlier; one of the originals sold for nearly £9,000 in 2005.

Which Christian feast on 6 January, sometimes called Three Kings' Day, commemorates the visit of the Magi?

Epiphany also recalls the baptism of Jesus and the wedding at Cana, and Eastern Christian tradition knows the feast as Theophany.

Which supergroup recorded Do They Know It's Christmas? in a single day in 1984 for Ethiopian famine relief?

Band Aid's record raised £8 million for Ethiopia within a year, far beyond what its co-writer Bob Geldof had hoped for.

Which singer wrote, produced and performed every part of his duo's 1984 single Last Christmas?

George Michael built the track from a drum machine, a synthesiser and sleigh bells, after first playing the introduction and chorus melody to his bandmate Andrew Ridgeley.

Which Handel oratorio, first performed in Dublin in 1742, has become a fixture of the weeks before Christmas?

Messiah got a cool reception in London at first: Handel cut a planned run of six performances to three and did not stage the work at all in 1744.

In which part of Britain do wassailers carry the Mari Lwyd, a ribboned horse's skull on a pole, from house to house?

Wales made the visit a battle of wits: the party and the householders trade sung verses at the door until the hosts run out of replies and must let the visitors in for ale and food.

Millions of pilgrims visit a Mexico City basilica each 12 December to honour which title of the Virgin Mary?

Our Lady of Guadalupe recalls apparitions reported in December 1531 by a peasant named Juan Diego, and her shrine is the most-visited Catholic one in the world.

Which South American country lights up streets and windowsills on 7 December for the Day of the Little Candles?

Colombia traces the custom to 7 December 1854, when candles were lit to greet the Pope's declaration of the Immaculate Conception as dogma.

Which East Slavic gift-bringer delivers New Year presents with his granddaughter Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden?

Ded Moroz, literally Grandfather Frost, took his modern form in Soviet times, when the New Year celebration replaced Christmas as the season's main event.

Which Stone Age passage tomb in Ireland's Boyne Valley is flooded with light by the rising sun around 21 December?

Newgrange catches the dawn through a purpose-built opening above its entrance, the roofbox, and the beam lights the inner chamber for about 17 minutes.

Whoever finds the baby figurine baked into Mexico's Rosca de Reyes on 6 January must host a party on which feast day?

Candlemas is also the day the finder, who is counted as blessed, may instead carry the figurine to the nearest church; it stands for the infant Jesus hidden from Herod.

Which Nickelodeon cartoon aired one of the first Chanukah specials on American children's television, in December 1996?

Rugrats had its babies imagine themselves as Judah and his army of Maccababies; the network first suggested the idea in 1992, but a Passover special was made first.

Which author wrote his children illustrated letters from Father Christmas every year from 1920 to 1943?

J. R. R. Tolkien filled the letters with the mishaps of the North Polar Bear and his two cubs, and later ones have Father Christmas fighting off goblins.

Santa Claus Village at Rovaniemi, where a painted line marks the Arctic Circle, lies in which region of Finland?

Lapland's best-known attraction has its line in the wrong place: it marks where the Arctic Circle ran in 1865, and the real circle creeps north by about 14.5 metres every year.