Q 01/05

The modern custom of decorating an evergreen tree for Christmas began in the 16th century in which country?

A) England

B) Germany

C) Sweden

D) Austria

Answer · why

B) Germany

Germany is where the fir 'paradise tree' of medieval plays became the decorated Christmas tree; an 1848 engraving of Queen Victoria and her German hus...

Q 02/05

What do the Yule Lads leave in the shoe of a child who has misbehaved?

A) A lump of coal

B) A rotten potato

C) A dried fish head

D) A birch switch

Answer · why

B) A rotten potato

A rotten potato awaits naughty children and small gifts the good; the lads were once so frightening that a 1746 decree banned parents from using such ...

Q 03/05

Eating twelve grapes at midnight on New Year's Eve, one per chime of the clock, is a tradition from which country?

A) Italy

B) Portugal

C) Spain

D) Greece

Answer · why

C) Spain

Spain's grapes are swallowed to the chimes of the clock in Madrid's Puerta del Sol, broadcast nationwide, and the custom has spread across Latin Ameri...

Q 04/05

The egg-laying 'Oschter Haws', forerunner of the Easter Bunny, is said to have reached America with German settlers in which colony?

A) Pennsylvania

B) Virginia

C) Massachusetts

D) Georgia

Answer · why

A) Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's German settlers told their children that the hare laid coloured eggs for the well-behaved, so before Easter the children set out their ...

Q 05/05

Diwali, often called the Festival of Lights, primarily symbolizes the triumph of what?

A) Good over evil

B) Strength over weakness

C) Harvest over drought

D) Winter over spring

Answer · why

A) Good over evil

Good over evil is Diwali's theme: in northern India the lights recall the people of Ayodhya welcoming Rama home after he defeated the demon king Ravan...