International Holiday Trivia
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69 free International Holiday trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Looking for holidays-around-the-world trivia? Our main global holidays quiz lives at Holidays Around the World Trivia. This page keeps a companion set focused on international holiday facts.
30 of 69 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Diwali is best known as the Hindu festival of what?
Lights
Diwali is the festival of lights: homes are lit with rows of diyas, small clay oil lamps, and many families worship Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.
Q 02By popular tradition, Diwali marks whose return to Ayodhya after 14 years in exile?
Rama
Rama returned to Ayodhya with Sita and Lakshmana after defeating Ravana, and the city lit rows of lamps to welcome them home, the origin of Diwali's lights in northern Indian tradition.
Q 03What do people throw at each other during Holi?
Coloured powder and water
Revellers throw coloured powder (gulal) and drench each other with water; the night before, bonfires called Holika Dahan mark the victory of good over evil.
Q 04Holi celebrates the arrival of which season?
Spring
Holi welcomes spring: it falls on the full moon of the Hindu month Phalguna, usually in March, and honours the love of Radha and Krishna.
Q 05Chinese New Year is also known by what name?
The Spring Festival
Chinese New Year is called the Spring Festival (Chunjie); it begins on the new moon between 21 January and 20 February and ends 15 days later with the Lantern Festival.
Q 06In the Chinese New Year legend, the monster Nian feared loud noises and which colour?
Red
Red frightened Nian, which is why the season is drenched in red decorations and lit by firecrackers; villagers also learned the beast fled from loud noises.
Q 07What are the red envelopes of cash given at Chinese New Year called in Mandarin?
Hongbao
Hongbao (literally 'red packet') is the Mandarin term; lai see is Cantonese and angpow Hokkien, and the money inside should ideally be crisp new notes.
Q 08Songkran, celebrated with nationwide water fights, is the New Year festival of which country?
Thailand
Songkran is Thailand's traditional New Year, officially 13 April; the water symbolises cleansing, and Buddha images are bathed as part of the rites.
Q 09Vietnam's Tết falls at roughly the same time as which other holiday?
Lunar New Year in China
Families decorate with peach blossoms or kumquat trees and eat bánh chưng, a square sticky-rice cake wrapped in leaves.
Q 10During Mexico's Day of the Dead, what do families build at home and at graves for the departed?
Ofrendas: altars with the departed's favourite foods and photos
Ofrendas are home and graveside altars holding the departed's favourite foods and photos, filled on 1 and 2 November with pan de muerto, sugar skulls and candles to welcome returning souls.
Q 11Which flower is most associated with Day of the Dead altars and graves?
Marigold
Marigolds (cempasúchil) in bright orange are said to guide spirits home with their colour and scent; petals are scattered in paths from the street to the ofrenda.
Q 12Mexico City's big Day of the Dead parade was created after it appeared in which James Bond film?
Spectre
Spectre (2015) opened with a fictional Day of the Dead parade through Mexico City; the city staged a real one in 2016 to meet tourist demand.
Q 13Nowruz, the Persian New Year, is timed to what astronomical event?
The spring equinox
Nowruz begins at the exact moment of the spring (vernal) equinox, around 20–21 March; its roots are Zoroastrian, and the UN adopted an International Day of Nowruz in 2010.
Q 21Thailand's Loy Krathong festival involves floating what on rivers and ponds?
Small decorated baskets with candles
The krathong is made of folded banana leaves with three incense sticks and a candle, and it coincides with the Yi Peng sky-lantern festival in the north.
Q 22Vesak, or Buddha Day, commemorates which three events in the life of the Buddha?
His birth, enlightenment and death
It falls on the full moon of Vesākha, usually in April or May, and the UN formally recognised it in 1999.
Q 23Mongolia's Naadam festival centres on which 'three games of men'?
Q 14The traditional Nowruz table holds seven items whose names all begin with which letter?
S
The seven items all start with the Persian letter sin (S): sabze, samanu, senjed, serke, sib, sir and somāq — sprouts, pudding, oleaster, vinegar, apple, garlic and sumac.
Q 15How long do the Nowruz holidays last in Iran?
13 days
On the thirteenth day, Sizdah Bedar, everyone leaves the house to picnic outdoors.
Q 16Japan's Obon festival honours whom?
The spirits of one's ancestors
Obon welcomes the spirits of one's ancestors home each summer: families return to their hometowns to clean graves, dance the Bon Odori and float lanterns down rivers to guide the souls back.
Q 17Japan's Setsubun custom involves throwing what while shouting 'Demons out, fortune in'?
Roasted soybeans
Roasted soybeans (fukumame) are thrown at the door or at a family member in a demon mask; you then eat one bean per year of your age plus one for luck, and in Kansai an uncut ehomaki sushi roll.
Q 18Japan's Golden Week begins on 29 April with which holiday?
Showa Day
Showa Day, marking Emperor Hirohito's birthday, has opened Golden Week on 29 April since 2007, replacing Greenery Day; the name Golden Week was coined in 1951 by a Daiei film executive after a hit release.
Q 19Korea's Chuseok, on the full moon of the eighth lunar month, is often translated into English as what?
Korean Thanksgiving
Chuseok is often called Korean Thanksgiving because it is a harvest festival: families make songpyeon rice cakes and visit ancestral graves to tidy them and offer food.
Q 20Nyepi, the Balinese Day of Silence, is so strict that what closes for the whole day?
The island's only airport
Even Ngurah Rai, the island's only airport, shuts for 24 hours on Nyepi; no work, travel, lights or entertainment are allowed, and the night before, demonic ogoh-ogoh effigies are paraded and burned.
Wrestling, horse racing and archery
Naadam's 'three games of men' are wrestling, horse racing and archery; held 11–13 July, it commemorates the 1921 revolution, and its cross-country races are ridden by child jockeys.
Q 24Eid al-Fitr marks the end of what?
The month-long fast of Ramadan
Eid al-Fitr, the 'festival of breaking the fast', ends the month-long fast of Ramadan; it falls on the first day of Shawwal, begins with a special prayer, and zakat al-fitr must be paid before it.
Q 25Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, honours which prophet's willingness to sacrifice his son?
Ibrahim
Eid al-Adha honours Ibrahim (Abraham), who was ready to sacrifice his son at God's command before a ram was provided instead; families sacrifice an animal and share the meat with the poor.
Q 26Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple after an uprising led by whom?
The Maccabees
The Maccabees, led by Judah Maccabee, retook Jerusalem from the Seleucids and rededicated the Temple in 164 BC; a single day's oil famously burned for eight, hence eight nights.
Q 27How many branches does a Hanukkah menorah have?
9
Eight hold the nightly lights and the ninth, the shamash, is used to light the others.
Q 28The Jewish festival of Purim commemorates the rescue of the Jews from Haman as told in which book?
Esther
The Book of Esther, read aloud from a scroll called the Megillah, tells how Queen Esther and Mordecai foiled Haman; the congregation drowns out Haman's name with graggers.
Q 29What are the gift baskets of food that Jews send to friends on Purim called?
Mishloach manot
Mishloach manot, 'sending of portions', are baskets of at least two ready-to-eat foods delivered to friends on Purim day, one of the festival's four commandments alongside gifts to the poor.
Q 30Bastille Day, the French national day, is celebrated on which date?
14 July
It marks both the storming of the Bastille in 1789 and the Fête de la Fédération a year later; the French simply call it le 14 juillet.