60 Fun Facts About World Cultures

Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is traditionally celebrated by lighting what?

The five-day festival also marks Rama's return to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana and honours Lakshmi, goddess of prosperity.

Which bright orange flower is used to decorate altars and graves during Mexico's Day of the Dead?

Known as cempasúchil, it decorates home altars called ofrendas that hold the favourite foods and drinks of the departed.

On which dates is the Day of the Dead traditionally celebrated?

UNESCO added the tradition to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.

Holi, the Hindu festival of coloured powder and water, marks the arrival of which season?

The night before, bonfires are lit for Holika Dahan, the burning of the demoness Holika.

Thailand's Songkran new year festival, celebrated on 13 April, is famous for what?

The splashing symbolises ritual cleansing to wash away the old year.

The first Oktoberfest, in 1810, was held to celebrate what?

Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese, and Munich's fairground is still called the Theresienwiese after her.

Which Spanish town hosts La Tomatina, the world's biggest food fight?

It began as a fight between friends in 1945; since 2013 it has been ticketed and capped at 20,000 so as not to swamp a town of 9,000.

The famous running of the bulls takes place in Pamplona during a festival honouring which saint?

The six bulls that run in the morning are the same six fought in the ring that afternoon.

Chinese New Year celebrations run until which event on the 15th day of the year?

The first day falls on the new moon between 21 January and 20 February, and doors are hung with red paper-cuts for luck.

When giving money in a Chinese red envelope, which number should be avoided in the amount?

The word for four sounds like the word for death, which is also why some Hong Kong towers skip every floor from 40 to 49.

Nowruz, the Persian New Year celebrated for over 3,000 years, falls on which astronomical event?

Its roots are Zoroastrian, and families set a haft-sin table of seven symbolic items beginning with the letter S.

Chuseok, the Korean harvest festival, is celebrated on the full moon of which lunar month?

Families return to ancestral hometowns, tidy graves and share half-moon rice cakes called songpyeon.

Kwanzaa, first celebrated in 1966, takes its name from a phrase in which language?

'Matunda ya kwanza' means 'first fruits'; an extra 'a' was added so the name would have a symbolic seven letters.

France's national day on 14 July commemorates the storming of which building in 1789?

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

Every 5 November, Britons light bonfires and fireworks to mark the foiling of what?

Guy Fawkes was caught guarding the explosives beneath the House of Lords, and Londoners lit bonfires that night to celebrate the king's survival.

Boxing Day, 26 December, coincides with which saint's feast?

One theory traces the name to church alms boxes opened for the poor on that feast day.

Trick-or-treating grew out of 'guising', a house-to-house Halloween custom from which two countries?

Children put on a small performance in exchange for treats; the earliest North American record is from British Columbia in 1898.

The hongi, the traditional Māori greeting, is performed how?

The ha, or breath of life, is exchanged; visitors are said to blend with the people of the land.

The Indian greeting 'namaste' is spoken with palms pressed together in a gesture called what?

The Thai wai and Burmese mingalaba share the same origin; the standing yoga posture built on it is pranamasana.

In the Thai wai greeting, how do you show greater respect?

The wai is also used to say thank you and sorry, and is repeated when asking permission to leave a house.

In Japanese business etiquette, the casual eshaku bow inclines the torso by roughly how many degrees?

Keirei is deeper and saikeirei, the most formal, deeper still; bowing manuals go back to the samurai of the Kamakura period.

A kimono is always wrapped left side over right, with one exception. Who is dressed right over left?

It is worn with a broad obi sash, zori sandals and tabi socks, and cut from a single long bolt called a tanmono.

A sari can be as long as how many yards of unstitched fabric?

The most common way to drape it is the Nivi style, originally from the Deccan.

The modern Scottish "small" kilt is essentially the bottom half of what 16th-century predecessor?

The great kilt of the 16th century was a full-length garment whose upper half could be worn as a cloak.

Kente cloth, woven in strips of silk and cotton, is officially recognised as a product of which country?

It was historically worn toga-style by the Asante, Akan and Ewe peoples.

The áo dài, a long split tunic worn over silk trousers, is the traditional dress of which country?

The name literally means 'long tunic'.

The fez was banned in 1925 in which country, as part of a modernising 'Hat Revolution'?

A century earlier the Ottoman sultan had ordered officials to wear the fez and banned turbans instead.

Why should chopsticks never be left standing upright in a bowl of rice?

Chopsticks originated in China over three millennia ago before spreading to Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

Haggis became Scotland's national dish largely thanks to a 1786 poem by whom?

'Address to a Haggis' is still recited at Burns suppers, where it is served with neeps, tatties and a dram.

Poutine, fries with cheese curds and gravy, emerged in the 1950s in which Canadian province?

Several towns in the Centre-du-Québec region still claim to have invented it in 1957 or so.

Vegemite, the dark Australian spread, is made from what?

Cyril Callister developed it in Melbourne in 1922 as a home-grown rival to Britain's Marmite.

Which Spanish region is the home of flamenco?

It developed within the gitano, or Romani, subculture of the south, though non-gitano artists have always been part of it.

Tango was born in the 1880s in the port areas along which river?

Argentina and Uruguay jointly got it onto UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2009.

Capoeira is played in a circle called a roda to the music of which bow-shaped instrument?

First recorded in 1789 as a criminal activity, capoeira received UNESCO protected status in 2014.

The 'Ka Mate' haka performed by New Zealand's All Blacks is attributed to which Māori war leader?

The team has performed a haka before matches since the Original All Blacks tour of 1905.

The didgeridoo requires which technique to keep its continuous drone going?

Aboriginal peoples of northern Australia developed it at least 1,000 years ago; the Yolŋu call it the yidaki.

Sumo wrestlers throw what into the ring before a bout as a Shinto purification ritual?

A rikishi loses by leaving the dohyo or touching the ground with anything but the soles of his feet.

Muay Thai's 'eight limbs' are fists, elbows, knees and what?

Fighters often enter the ring wearing a mongkhon headband and pra jiad armbands.

Which Highland games event flips a long tapered pole end over end?

The games centre on piping, drumming, dancing and 'heavy athletics' and are held wherever the Scottish diaspora settled.

England's Cooper's Hill event sends competitors chasing what down a steep slope?

The 7-9 lb cheese hurtles down a hill with a slope of about 50 percent; the event happens on the Spring Bank Holiday.

The sport of wife-carrying was introduced in 1992 in which country?

The 'Estonian style' carry has the partner upside-down on the runner's back with legs over the shoulders.

A quinceañera celebrates a girl's birthday at what age?

The tradition blends Spanish Catholic customs with indigenous heritage; the girl of honour usually wears a tiara.

In Orthodox Jewish communities, at what age does a girl become bat mitzvah?

Boys become bar mitzvah at 13; most Reform and Conservative communities use 13 for everyone.

Henna body art applied to brides before weddings across South Asia and the Middle East is known as what?

The 'Night of the Henna' was celebrated by Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus alike wherever the plant grew.

The blue-and-white glass 'nazar' amulet, sold from Istanbul to Athens, protects against what?

Amulets against the malevolent, envious glare have been found dating back around 5,000 years.

The Danish concept of hygge was runner-up for which dictionary's UK word of the year in 2016?

It lost to Brexit; the word describes a cosy, contented mood and comes from an Old Norse root meaning 'to think'.

The southern African philosophy of ubuntu takes its name from a Bantu word meaning what?

It is often glossed as 'I am because we are', and Tutu's ubuntu theology shaped the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Hawaii celebrates Lei Day, honouring the flower garland, on which date?

Poet Don Blanding proposed it in 1927; leis are given to dignitaries, graduates and departing loved ones across Polynesia.

The first Russian matryoshka nesting doll set was made in the 1890s and contained how many dolls?

Sergey Malyutin's design had a mother in traditional dress holding a red-combed rooster on the outside.

According to local records, the Mexican piñata tradition began in which town, for teaching catechism?

The Spanish brought a 14th-century European custom, but the Aztecs already broke pots for the god Huitzilopochtli's birthday.

Yodeling is thought to have started in the Central Alps for what practical purpose?

It reached theatres and music halls as entertainment in the 1830s.

The Carnival of Venice was abolished in 1797 and revived in which year?

Emperor Francis II outlawed the festival and banned masks; the modern event now draws around 3 million visitors a year.

Hanami began in Japan's Nara period with the viewing of which blossoms, before cherry took over?

The practice came from the Chinese custom of enjoying poetry and wine beneath plum trees; plum-viewing is still called umemi.

The Dragon Boat Festival honours Qu Yuan, a minister of which ancient Chinese state?

Celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, it became the first Chinese holiday added to UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2009.

What are the sticky rice dumplings eaten during China's Dragon Boat Festival called?

Dragon boat races and zongzi were southern Chinese traditions that became attached to the holiday, also known as the Double Fifth.

In Finnish sauna tradition, what is the 'löyly'?

The oldest Finnish saunas were pits dug into slopes, heated by burning wood under a pile of rocks called a kiuas for six to eight hours.

UNESCO inscribed 'Sauna culture in Finland' on its intangible heritage list in which year?

The smoke sauna tradition of Võromaa in Estonia had already been listed in 2014.

Inti Raymi, the Inca festival of the sun, is celebrated on June 24 in which city?

It marked the winter solstice and Inca New Year, and is now called the second-largest festival in South America.

Bunraku, Japan's traditional puppet theatre, was founded in the early 17th century in which city?

It rose to popularity when playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon teamed with chanter Takemoto Gidayu, who opened a puppet theatre there in 1684.

Gamelan, the ensemble music of Java and Bali, keeps its beat with hand drums called what?

Metallophones played with mallets dominate the ensemble, joined by bamboo flutes, a bowed rebab and a zither-like siter.