Q 01/05

The word 'carnival' is usually traced to a Late Latin phrase meaning what?

A) Feast of fools

B) Farewell to sin

C) Put on the mask

D) Remove meat

Answer · why

D) Remove meat

Carne levare means 'remove meat': Lent's fasting rules banned meat, so the days before Ash Wednesday were the last chance to eat it up.

Q 02/05

According to Guinness World Records, which city's carnival is the largest in the world?

A) Rio de Janeiro

B) New Orleans

C) Port of Spain

D) Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Answer · why

A) Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro holds the Guinness record: its street carnival puts around two million people a day on the streets, on top of the Sambadrome parades.

Q 03/05

Which pope decided that the Lenten fast would begin on Ash Wednesday?

A) Leo the Great

B) Nicholas the Great

C) Gregory the Great

D) Innocent III

Answer · why

C) Gregory the Great

Gregory reigned from 590 to 604, so the pre-Lent blowout has had a fixed finish line for over 1,400 years.

Q 04/05

In the Rhineland, the first modern carnival parade was held in Cologne in which year?

A) 1823

B) 1848

C) 1871

D) 1899

Answer · why

A) 1823

The first Rosenmontag parade rolled through Cologne in 1823, the year the Festkomitee Kölner Karneval was founded to put the festivities in order.

Q 05/05

Which Belgian town's carnival is famous for its Gilles, performers in wax masks and wooden clogs?

A) Bruges

B) Binche

C) Namur

D) Ghent

Answer · why

B) Binche

The Gilles of Binche parade on Shrove Tuesday; UNESCO proclaimed the Carnival of Binche a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity ...