70 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.
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Q 01Diwali is best known as the Hindu festival of what?
Lights
Homes are lit with diyas — small 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
He came home with Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman, and the city lit lamps to welcome them.
Q 03What do people throw at each other during Holi?
Coloured powder and water
The night before, bonfires called Holika Dahan mark the victory of good over evil.
Q 04Holi celebrates the arrival of which season?
Spring
It falls on the full moon of Phalguna, usually in March, and honors the love of Radha and Krishna.
Q 05Chinese New Year is also known by what name?
The Spring Festival
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 was afraid of loud noises and which colour?
Red
That is why the season is drenched in red decorations, firecrackers and hongbao envelopes of cash.
Q 07What are the red envelopes of cash given at Chinese New Year called in Mandarin?
Hongbao
Lai see is the Cantonese term and angpow the Hokkien; 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
The official date is 13 April, the water symbolizes cleansing, and Buddha statues 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 10What do Mexican families build at home and at graves during the Day of the Dead?
Ofrendas: altars with the departed's favourite foods and photos
Celebrated on 1 and 2 November, the holiday fills the ofrendas with pan de muerto, sugar skulls and orange cempasúchil marigolds.
Q 11Which flower is most associated with Day of the Dead altars and graves?
Marigold
The bright orange cempasúchil is said to guide spirits home with its colour and scent.
Q 12Mexico City's big Day of the Dead parade was created after it appeared in which James Bond film?
Spectre
The 2015 movie invented the parade for its opening; the city staged a real one the following year to meet tourist demand.
Q 13Nowruz, the Persian New Year, is timed to what astronomical event?
The spring equinox
Its roots are Zoroastrian, it has been celebrated for over 3,000 years, 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 Nowruz Haft-sin table holds seven items that all begin with which letter?
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
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
You then eat one bean for every year of your age plus one for luck; in Kansai you also eat an uncut sushi roll facing the lucky direction.
Q 18Japan's Golden Week begins on 29 April with which holiday?
Showa Day
The name was coined in 1951 by a film executive after a movie sold unusually well during the run of holidays.
Q 19Korea's Chuseok, on the full moon of the eighth lunar month, is often translated into English as what?
Korean Thanksgiving
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
No work, travel, lights or entertainment are allowed; the night before, demonic ogoh-ogoh effigies are paraded and burned.
Wrestling, horse racing and archery
Held 11–13 July, it commemorates the 1921 revolution, and its cross-country horse races are ridden by children as young as five.
Q 24Eid al-Fitr marks the end of what?
The month-long fast of Ramadan
It falls on the first day of Shawwal, begins with a special prayer, and charity — zakat al-fitr — must be paid before it.
Q 25Which festival, sometimes called the Sweet Eid, is greeted with the words 'Eid Mubarak'?
Eid al-Fitr
The greeting is Arabic for 'Blessed Eid', and the sweet nickname comes from the desserts that dominate the day.
Q 26Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple after an uprising led by whom?
The Maccabees
A single day's worth of oil famously burned for eight, which is why the festival lasts 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 Megillah is read aloud, and the congregation drowns out Haman's name with graggers every time it is mentioned.
Q 29What are the triangular pastries eaten at Purim called?
Hamantaschen
The name means 'Haman's pockets'; costumes and gift baskets of food, mishloach manot, round out the day.
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.