Q 01/05

Which popular holiday falls on the vigil of All Saints' Day?

A) Thanksgiving

B) Guy Fawkes Night

C) Halloween

D) Martinmas

Answer · why

C) Halloween

Halloween. The name is a Scottish shortening of All Hallows' Even, the evening before All Hallows, in which 'hallow' is an old word for a saint.

Q 02/05

What is the name of the three-day season that includes All Saints' Day?

A) Advent season

B) Michaelmas

C) Allhallowtide

D) Candlemas week

Answer · why

C) Allhallowtide

Allhallowtide. 'Hallow' is an old word for a saint and 'tide' an old word for a season, so the name simply means the time of all the saints; it runs f...

Q 03/05

For Catholics, All Saints' Day is a holy day of obligation, which means the faithful are required to do what?

A) Fast until sunset

B) Go to confession

C) Attend Mass

D) Visit a family grave

Answer · why

C) Attend Mass

Attend Mass. Church law names ten such days besides Sundays but lets each country's bishops drop some or move them to a Sunday, so the list differs ar...

Q 04/05

The Eastern Orthodox churches keep All Saints not in November but on which Sunday?

A) First Sunday after Pentecost

B) First Sunday of Great Lent

C) Second Sunday of Advent

D) Sunday before Christmas

Answer · why

A) First Sunday after Pentecost

First Sunday after Pentecost. The Orthodox reasoning is that saints are the fruit of the Holy Spirit's descent at Pentecost, so the two feasts fall a ...

Q 05/05

The Coptic Orthodox Church honours its saints not on November 1 but at which new-year feast?

A) Nayrouz

B) Epiphany

C) Timkat

D) Meskel

Answer · why

A) Nayrouz

Nayrouz. Coptic years are counted from AD 284, when the persecuting emperor Diocletian took power, so New Year's Day is also the day for remembering t...