60 Fun Facts About Holidays Around the World

Diwali commemorates which figure's return to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana?

Homes are lit with diyas, and the goddess Lakshmi is worshipped for prosperity; celebrations run about five days.

Which observance on the 15th day, with children carrying lights and solving riddles, ends Chinese New Year celebrations?

Children carry paper lanterns and solve the riddles written on them; the whole period is officially the Spring Festival.

What are the home altars built for Mexico's Day of the Dead called?

They hold the favourite foods and drinks of the departed, decorated with marigolds called cempasúchil; UNESCO listed the tradition in 2008.

Holi, the Hindu festival of colours, celebrates the love between which two deities?

It falls on the full moon of Phalguna, usually mid-March, and lasts a night and a day.

Songkran, the Thai New Year celebrated on 13 April, is famous for what public activity?

The soaking symbolises ritual cleansing; the word comes from Sanskrit for 'astrological passage'.

Eid al-Fitr falls on the first day of which month of the Islamic calendar?

Its focus on food earns it the nickname 'Sweet Eid' or 'Sugar Feast'.

How many nights does Hanukkah last?

The menorah has nine branches: eight lights plus the shamash used to light them.

Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by which activist?

The name comes from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning 'first fruits'; it runs December 26 to January 1.

Rio de Janeiro's Carnival, the world's biggest, draws roughly how many people onto the streets each day?

The first Rio Carnival was held in 1723; today more than 200 samba schools compete.

The first Oktoberfest, in October 1810, celebrated what event?

Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese, and the meadow was named Theresienwiese in her honour.

Bastille Day on 14 July marks the storming of the Bastille in which year?

The Paris parade on the Champs-Élysées is described as the oldest and largest military parade in Europe.

Guy Fawkes was arrested on 5 November 1605 while guarding explosives placed beneath what?

The plotters meant to kill James I; Londoners lit bonfires to celebrate his survival, and Parliament made the day an annual thanksgiving.

Midsummer celebrations in Europe were traditionally fixed to the feast day of which biblical figure on 24 June?

Bonfires, maypole dancing and feasting mark the day; the Romans reckoned 24 June as the middle of summer.

Japan's Obon festival, when ancestral spirits return home, traditionally includes which dance?

Families visit and clean graves; the festival has been observed in Japan for more than 500 years.

Chuseok, Korea's harvest festival, falls on the 15th day of which lunar month?

Families eat songpyeon rice cakes and perform charye memorial rites for their ancestors.

La Tomatina, the tomato-throwing festival, is held in which Spanish town?

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.

Nowruz, the Persian New Year celebrated for over 3,000 years, is timed to what?

Its roots are Zoroastrian and it usually falls between 19 and 22 March; the name simply means 'new day'.

During Thailand's Loy Krathong festival, decorated baskets are floated on rivers to thank whom?

It falls on the full moon of the 12th Thai lunar month; the practice traces back to the Khmer Empire.

On Saint Lucy's Day, 13 December, girls in Sweden lead processions wearing what on their heads?

They wear white dresses with red sashes and carry saffron buns; the legend says Lucy lit her way through the catacombs this way.

In much of Europe, 26 December is the feast of which early Christian martyr?

Alms boxes in churches were opened for the poor on this day, one possible origin of the English name.

Waitangi Day, New Zealand's national day on 6 February, marks the signing of a treaty in which year?

It was first celebrated in 1934 and became a public holiday in 1974.

Australia Day on 26 January marks the 1788 landing of what?

Arthur Phillip raised the Union Flag at Sydney Cove; some Australians mark the day as Invasion Day or Survival Day instead.

Canada Day was known by what name until 1982?

It marks the 1867 union of the Canadas, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; the rename came the year the constitution was patriated.

Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexico's 1862 victory over which country at the Battle of Puebla?

General Ignacio Zaragoza led the win; it is not Mexican Independence Day, which is 16 September.

Which Caribbean territory observes Saint Patrick's Day as a public holiday?

17 March is the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, who is said to be buried at Downpatrick.

In Alpine folklore, Krampus punishes naughty children on 5 December with what?

The horned figure was even banned in Austria in the 1930s under the Dollfuss regime.

According to Dutch tradition, Sinterklaas arrives each year by steamboat from which country?

He rides a white horse; the original Saint Nicholas was a Greek bishop of Myra in present-day Turkey.

Purim celebrates the foiling of Haman's plot, as told in which book of the Bible?

Mordecai and his cousin Queen Esther saved the Jews; the day involves feasting, gifts to the poor and costumes.

Passover commemorates the Israelites' Exodus from slavery in which land?

The name recalls the tenth plague passing over doorframes marked with lamb's blood.

Vesak commemorates three events in the life of the Buddha: his birth, his death, and what?

It takes its name from the lunar month of Vaisakha; East Asian traditions split the events into separate holidays.

Ramadan is which month of the Islamic calendar?

Fasting from dawn to sunset is one of the five pillars of Islam and lasts 29 to 30 days between crescent moons.

Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, falls on the 10th day of which Hebrew month?

It follows Rosh Hashanah, which begins the same month, and involves a full fast and extended prayer.

What instrument, made from a ram's horn, is sounded on Rosh Hashanah?

The blasts symbolise the horns sounded at a coronation; the holiday is a two-day observance.

On Setsubun, what do Japanese people traditionally throw to drive out demons?

It usually falls on 3 February; even samurai households once flung beans out of their doors.

Japan's Golden Week begins on 29 April with a holiday renamed in 2007 after which emperor?

The date was Greenery Day until 2007, when that holiday moved to 4 May and 29 April was renamed to honour Hirohito.

Pongal, the Tamil harvest festival, is named after a rice dish made by doing what?

Thai Pongal falls around 14 January and honours the sun deity Surya.

Inti Raymi, the Inca festival of the sun held on 24 June in Cusco, marked what?

June is midwinter in the Andes; the festival is now the second-largest in South America.

In Scotland's Hogmanay tradition of first-footing, what kind of guest is thought to bring the best luck?

The first person over the threshold after midnight sets the luck for the year.

Canadian Thanksgiving is held on which day?

It has been an official annual holiday since 1879; the current date was fixed by proclamation in 1957.

Mardi Gras is French for what?

It is the final day of Carnival before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, when rich foods were traditionally used up.

Epiphany on 6 January is also known as Three Kings' Day, commemorating whose visit to the Christ Child?

Eastern churches instead celebrate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan on this feast, calling it Theophany.

At Valencia's Fallas festival, what happens to the giant sculptures each neighbourhood builds?

The daily Mascletà firecracker display runs from 1 to 19 March; UNESCO listed the festival in 2016.

Anzac Day on 25 April marks the 1915 landing of Australian and New Zealand troops on which peninsula?

The Ottoman defence was commanded by Mustafa Kemal, later Atatürk.

Which pastry, filled with sweet bean or lotus-seed paste, is eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival?

The festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, when lanterns are carried to light the way to good fortune.

The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates which ancient Chinese minister and poet?

Sticky rice dumplings called zongzi are eaten; in 2009 it became the first Chinese holiday on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.

Wrestling and archery are two of Naadam's 'three games of men'. What is the third?

UNESCO inscribed Naadam on its intangible heritage list in 2010.

Timkat processions carry the Tabot, a model of what?

The festival re-enacts the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan.

On Nyepi, Bali's Day of Silence, what happens to the island's only airport?

Residents and visitors must stay indoors, and fire and artificial light are restricted island-wide.

Zurich's spring holiday Sechseläuten climaxes with the burning of the Böögg, an effigy of what?

It is packed with explosives; the time it takes for the head to blow is read as a forecast for summer.

Many Halloween traditions are thought to derive from Samhain, a harvest festival of which people?

Irish and Scottish immigrants carried the customs to North America, where turnip lanterns became pumpkins.

Up Helly Aa, held in Lerwick at the end of January, ends with the burning of what?

Up to a thousand costumed guizers march through the Shetland capital by torchlight.

Burns Night is celebrated on 25 January because it is what?

The first supper was actually held on 21 July 1801, the fifth anniversary of the poet's death.

White Day, 14 March in Japan and East Asia, began in 1978 as a way for men to do what?

A Fukuoka confectioner had marketed 'Marshmallow Day' the year before.

The Chinese Qingming Festival, held around 4-6 April, is known in English by what name?

Families clean gravesites and make offerings; it falls 15 days after the spring equinox.

On which date did the Continental Congress vote for independence, two days before adopting the Declaration?

Jefferson wrote most of the Declaration alone over 17 days at a rented room on Market Street in Philadelphia.

Tết, Vietnam's most important celebration, marks the arrival of which season?

It falls on the first day of the first lunisolar month, usually between late January and 20 February.

Vaisakhi, celebrated on 13 or 14 April, is a harvest festival celebrated chiefly in which Indian region?

It also marks the Indian Solar New Year and gained Sikh significance with the founding of the Khalsa.

The Tamil festival Thaipusam commemorates the god Murugan's victory over which demon?

Murugan wielded a divine spear, the vel, granted by his mother Parvati.

In which Chinese city is the world's largest ice and snow festival held each winter?

The Harbin festival drew 3.56 million visitors in 2025.

South Korea's Boryeong Mud Festival was originally conceived as a marketing vehicle for what?

The mineral-rich mud is trucked from the Boryeong mud flats to Daecheon Beach; the first festival was in 1998.