Christmas Eve
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50 free Christmas Eve trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
In many countries the night before Christmas matters more than the day itself. It is when families in many countries sit down to the main meal, when presents are opened across northern Europe, when churches fill for late services, and when children everywhere try to stay awake for a visitor in a sleigh. This quiz follows December 24 from one country to the next: what goes on the table, which customs decide when supper may begin, what is left out overnight, and what people watch, sing and read once the candles are lit. It also covers the famous films and stories that unfold on that single night, and the moments in history that happened to fall on the date, from peace treaties to a broadcast from space. The opening questions are the traditions and pop-culture moments most people have met. Later ones reach for regional customs and lesser-known history. It suits a family gathering before the presents come out, a classroom, or an office party, and every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Disney character gives his name to the cartoon special that about 40% of Swedes watch every Christmas Eve?
Donald Duck
Donald Duck is so much more popular than Mickey Mouse in Sweden that the Disney special was retitled after him. It has been shown there every Christmas Eve since 1960.
Q 02Which Colorado-based military command tracks Santa's Christmas Eve flight for children, a tradition begun in 1955?
NORAD
NORAD inherited the job from its forerunner, whose Colonel Harry Shoup had the press told in 1955 that his command was tracking the sleigh. The idea began after a child's phone call reached his desk.
Q 03A marketing campaign that went nationwide in 1974 made which fast food a Christmas Eve tradition in Japan?
Fried chicken
Fried chicken from KFC sells so heavily in Japan around Christmas Eve that those few days have brought in nearly five percent of the chain's annual revenue there.
Q 04In Catalonia, which object do children beat with sticks on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day until it 'defecates' presents?
A hollow log
A hollow log called the Tió de Nadal is 'fed' every night from December 8 and tucked under a blanket. Before the beating, children leave the room to pray for plenty of gifts.
Q 05On Christmas Eve 1968, the crew of which space mission read the opening verses of Genesis while orbiting the Moon?
Apollo 8
Apollo 8 was the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon, and an estimated quarter of the people alive at the time saw the broadcast, live or delayed.
Q 06In which war did British and German troops leave their trenches around Christmas Eve to swap gifts and sing carols?
World War I
World War I's Christmas truce began when German troops set candles and trees along their trenches and sang carols, and the British answered with their own. No commander had authorised it.
Q 07Which carol was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 in an Austrian village church, accompanied by a guitar?
Silent Night
Silent Night got its guitar part after river flooding had possibly damaged the church organ at Oberndorf. Joseph Mohr wrote the words and the schoolmaster Franz Gruber composed the tune.
Q 08A 'flood' of new releases each autumn makes which item Iceland's most popular Christmas Eve gift?
Books
Books became Iceland's Christmas gift of choice in the 1940s because imported paper was less tightly restricted than other goods. A free catalogue of new titles goes to every household.
Q 09Which action film sees a New York detective fight terrorists in a Los Angeles skyscraper during a Christmas Eve party?
Die Hard
Die Hard is based on a 1979 novel, Nothing Lasts Forever, in which the hero is visiting his daughter rather than his estranged wife.
Q 10In Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, whose chained ghost visits Ebenezer Scrooge at home on Christmas Eve?
Jacob Marley
Jacob Marley, the miser's business partner, had been dead for seven years. His chains and money boxes were forged by a lifetime of greed, the fate he has come to warn his old friend about.
Q 11Which items hung up on Christmas Eve are linked to a legend of Saint Nicholas tossing gold to three poor sisters?
Stockings
Stockings caught the bags of gold in one telling, because the sisters had hung theirs by the fireplace to dry. The secret gift saved the family from destitution.
Q 12Which reindeer, created in 1939 for a Montgomery Ward giveaway, leads Santa's sleigh team on Christmas Eve?
Rudolph
Rudolph came to his creator, Robert L. May, when thick fog off Lake Michigan blocked the view from his Chicago office. The store gave away 2.4 million copies of the tale in its first year.
Q 13Which 1946 Frank Capra film shows a despairing man on Christmas Eve what his town would be like without him?
It's a Wonderful Life
Q 21Poland's Christmas Eve supper, Wigilia, traditionally begins after a day of fasting once what has been spotted?
The first star
The first star stands for the one the Magi followed, so children watch the darkening sky for it. The table is also laid with an extra place setting for an unexpected guest.
Q 22Which fish, often kept in the family bathtub beforehand, is the classic Christmas Eve dish across Central Europe?
Carp
Carp spends its last days in the tub to rid it of muddy flavours. In some regions its scales are carried afterwards for good luck and its bones are placed in fruit trees.
Q 23Danes hide what in their Christmas Eve rice pudding dessert, with a small prize for whoever finds it?
A whole almond
It's a Wonderful Life became a seasonal staple only in the 1970s, after its US copyright lapsed and television stations could broadcast it without paying fees.
Q 14Which ballet, set on Christmas Eve, sees a girl's wooden doll grow to human size and fight an army of mice?
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker was at first less successful on stage than the 20-minute concert suite Tchaikovsky had drawn from its score and premiered nine months earlier.
Q 15In which children's picture story does a boy travel north on Christmas Eve and come home with a bell from the sleigh?
The Polar Express
The Polar Express won Chris Van Allsburg the 1986 Caldecott Medal. Its young hero rides a magical train, and his chosen present is cut by an elf from a reindeer's harness.
Q 16In Dr. Seuss's 1957 tale, the Grinch dresses as Santa on Christmas Eve to rob the homes of which town?
Whoville
Whoville's noisy festivities had annoyed the Grinch for 53 years before he struck, riding down from his mountain on a sleigh pulled by his dog, Max.
Q 17In O. Henry's story The Gift of the Magi, what does Della sell on Christmas Eve to buy her husband a present?
Her hair
Her hair fetches $20 from a wig maker, enough for a chain for Jim's gold pocket watch. Jim, meanwhile, has sold the watch to buy her a set of jeweled combs.
Q 18Which animated family adopts a losing racing greyhound on Christmas Eve in the 1989 episode that launched their series?
The Simpsons
The Simpsons took in the dog, Santa's Little Helper, after Homer staked his pay as a shopping-mall Santa on the 99–1 long shot. The greyhound finished last and his owner abandoned him.
Q 19Which season of the Western church calendar, opening four Sundays before Christmas, comes to a close on Christmas Eve?
Advent
Advent is a time of waiting for both the Nativity and the Second Coming. Many churches mark its end on Christmas Eve by lighting the Christ candle at the centre of the wreath.
Q 20The Feast of the Seven Fishes, a Christmas Eve seafood meal, is a tradition of which US immigrant community?
Italian Americans
Italian Americans kept the old rule of abstaining from meat on the vigil of a feast day, then turned it into an abundance of seafood. Some families do not count the dishes at all.
A whole almond wins its finder the mandelgave, the almond present, such as a chocolate heart or a small board game. The dessert, risalamande, is a Danish invention despite its French-sounding name.
Q 24On Christmas Eve, Scandinavian families traditionally leave a bowl of what for the nisse, the farm's household spirit?
Porridge
Porridge is the nisse's favourite reward for a year of stable chores, but it must come with a pat of butter on top. Folk tales warn that a spirit served it wrongly takes revenge.
Q 25The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is broadcast every Christmas Eve from the chapel of which Cambridge college?
King's
King's opens the service with a lone treble singing Once in Royal David's City. The format itself was devised in 1880 at Truro Cathedral in Cornwall.
Q 26Misa de Gallo, the Christmas Eve midnight Mass of Spain and its former colonies, is named after which bird?
Rooster
Rooster's Mass recalls the cockcrow, the hour after which a night Mass was said in Rome's Basilica of St Mary Major from the fifth century on. It is also known as the Shepherds' Mass.
Q 27Which Asian country's nine-day run of dawn Masses, Simbang Gabi, finishes on Christmas Eve?
Philippines
The Philippines holds the Masses before dawn, a timing said to have let farmers worship before a day in the fields. The name is Filipino for 'night Mass'.
Q 28Which nine-night celebration, ending on Christmas Eve, re-enacts Mary and Joseph's search for an inn?
Las Posadas
Las Posadas runs for nine nights to stand for the nine months of Mary's pregnancy. The procession sings at the door of a house chosen as the inn, and the residents sing back before letting everyone in.
Q 29Which fruit do people in China exchange on Christmas Eve because its Mandarin name sounds like the word for peace?
Apples
Apples are 'píngguǒ' in Mandarin, close to 'píng'ān', meaning peace. Christmas Eve itself is called Píng'ān yè, the peaceful night, after the Chinese title of a famous carol.
Q 30The Treaty of Ghent, signed in Belgium on Christmas Eve, ended which war between the United States and Britain?
War of 1812
The War of 1812 rumbled on after the signing, because news of the peace took weeks to cross the Atlantic. Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans came two weeks after the ink dried.