This January facts and trivia quiz has 130 free questions with answers and covers the whole month: where the name comes from (a two-faced Roman god), how January became the first month of the year, its birthstone, birth flowers and zodiac signs, and the traditions that fill it, from the Times Square ball drop and Scottish first-footing to Epiphany cakes, Burns Night haggis, Coming of Age Day in Japan and Republic Day in India. There is also a run of famous January dates: the Emancipation Proclamation, Ellis Island's first day, the Challenger disaster, the first Super Bowl, the euro's arrival and more. Roughly a third of the questions are easy enough for kids or a classroom warm-up in the first week back, a third are medium, and the rest will stretch adults who think they know their calendar. Every question is multiple choice with four options. Every answer has been checked against a primary or encyclopaedic source, and each question links to the page that confirms it.
30 of 130 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The month of January takes its name from which Roman god of beginnings and doorways?
Janus
Janus was invoked at the start of every Roman ceremony, whichever god the ceremony was actually for.
Q 02How many days does January have?
31
Seven of the twelve months are that long, and only February never reaches 30.
Q 03The god January is named for is usually shown with what unusual feature?
A double-sided head
One face looks back at the old year and one looks forward to the new, which is why he suits the month that opens the year.
Q 04Which semi-legendary king of Rome traditionally added January and February to the ten-month calendar?
Numa Pompilius
The old ten-month year ran to just 304 days, with the winter simply left uncounted.
Q 05Per Livy, in which year BC did the Roman consular year move to 1 January, in response to a rebellion in Hispania?
153 BC
Consuls had previously entered office in March, which is why the year began in spring for so long.
Q 06What did the Anglo-Saxons call January, in a name that translates as 'wolf month'?
Wulf-monath
Charlemagne, for his part, called it Wintarmanoth, simply 'winter month'.
Q 07Which gemstone is the birthstone for January?
Garnet
Its name probably comes from the Latin for pomegranate, whose red seeds look a lot like the crystals.
Q 08Along with the snowdrop, which flower is traditionally January's birth flower?
Carnation
Both are winter bloomers, which is the whole point of giving a cold month a flower at all.
Q 09Galanthus, the snowdrop's genus name, combines the Greek for flower with the Greek word for what?
Milk
Linnaeus gave the genus its formal name in 1753, but Theophrastus described the plant in classical times.
Q 10Which two zodiac signs fall in January?
Capricorn and Aquarius
The changeover happens around 19 or 20 January.
Q 11In most of the Northern Hemisphere, January is on average the year's what?
Coldest month
In the Southern Hemisphere it is the seasonal twin of July, so Australians spend it at the beach.
Q 12Counter-intuitively for northern winter, Earth reaches which point of its orbit in early January?
Perihelion, closest to the Sun
Earth is then about 147 million km from the Sun; seasons come from axial tilt, not distance.
Q 13According to the Maine Farmers' Almanac, the full moon in January is named after which animal?
Wolf
The almanac began publishing the monthly moon names in the 1930s.
Q 21In Mexico, whoever finds the baby Jesus in a rosca de reyes on 6 January traditionally must do what?
Host a party on Candlemas
Candlemas falls on 2 February, so the obligation comes with a month's notice, and tamales are the usual menu.
Q 22Superstition says it is unlucky to leave Christmas decorations up after which January date?
Twelfth Night
Depending on how you count the twelve days, that is 5 or 6 January.
Q 23Why do many Russians celebrate Christmas on 7 January?
The Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar
Q 14The first Times Square ball drop was held on New Year's Eve of which year?
1907
It was organised by Adolph Ochs, owner of The New York Times, to replace a fireworks display the city had banned.
Q 15The original iron-and-wood Times Square ball, lit by 100 bulbs, weighed how much?
700 pounds
Later balls were covered in thousands of Waterford crystal panels lit by LEDs.
Q 16England and its American colonies only adopted 1 January as New Year's Day from which year?
1752
Before that the legal year in England began on 25 March, Lady Day.
Q 17New Year's Day cold-water plunges are nicknamed after which animal?
Polar bear
Many plunges double as charity fundraisers.
Q 18Hogmanay is the Scots word for what?
The last day of the year
In Scotland the party runs so long that 2 January is a bank holiday too.
Q 19Who is traditionally preferred as the first-foot across a Scottish threshold after midnight?
A tall, dark-haired man
The first-foot usually brings symbolic gifts such as coal, shortbread, whisky or black bun.
Q 20In Western Christianity, the feast of Epiphany on 6 January principally commemorates what?
The visit of the Magi
Eastern churches focus instead on the baptism of Jesus and call the feast Theophany.
That calendar currently runs 13 days behind the Gregorian one, so 25 December lands on 7 January.
Q 24Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed on which day each year?
The third Monday of January
It is also designated a National Day of Service.
Q 25In which year was Martin Luther King Jr. Day first observed as a federal holiday?
1986
Ronald Reagan signed the bill in 1983; New Hampshire became the last state to name the holiday for King, in 2000.
Q 26Martin Luther King Jr. was born on 15 January 1929 in which city?
Atlanta
He was born Michael King Jr.; his father renamed them both after the Reformation figure Martin Luther in 1934.
Q 27Australia Day marks the 1788 raising of the Union Flag by which governor?
Arthur Phillip
Some Australians observe the date instead as Invasion Day or Survival Day.
Q 28India's Republic Day on 26 January commemorates what event in 1950?
The Constitution coming into effect
The date was chosen because the Indian National Congress had declared Purna Swaraj, complete independence, on 26 January 1930.
Q 29Burns Night, celebrated on 25 January, traditionally centres on which dish?
Haggis
The very first supper for Burns was held by his friends in July 1801 at Burns Cottage in Ayrshire.
Q 30Japan's Coming of Age Day, held on the second Monday of January, honours people who have reached what?
The age of maturity
Many young women attend in furisode, a long-sleeved kimono, while ceremonies are held at local city offices.