Q 01/05

Saint Nicholas, the 4th-century bishop behind Santa Claus, lived in which modern country?

A) Turkey

B) Greece

C) Norway

D) Finland

Answer · why

A) Turkey

Turkey is where Myra stood, the town he served as bishop, but his bones were later carried off to churches in Italy, which spread his fame across Euro...

Q 02/05

The American name Santa Claus grew out of which European gift-bringer's name?

A) Samichlaus

B) Père Noël

C) Sankt Nikolaus

D) Sinterklaas

Answer · why

D) Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas, Sante Klaas in Dutch dialect, gave Santa his name, and Washington Irving's 1809 book helped make the saint popular in America.

Q 03/05

What's A Visit from St. Nicholas better known as?

A) Up on the Housetop

B) The Night Before Christmas

C) Deck the Halls

D) Here Comes Santa Claus

Answer · why

B) The Night Before Christmas

The Night Before Christmas first appeared anonymously in a Troy newspaper in 1823, and Clement Clarke Moore only claimed it years later, a claim still...

Q 04/05

Which reindeer was created in 1939 for a department store's free Christmas booklet?

A) Dasher

B) Comet

C) Rudolph

D) Blitzen

Answer · why

C) Rudolph

Rudolph was dreamed up by Montgomery Ward copywriter Robert L. May, and the store gave away millions of copies before Gene Autry's recording of the so...

Q 05/05

According to tradition, what does a child who has been naughty all year find in their Christmas stocking?

A) A wooden spoon

B) A lump of coal

C) An empty sock

D) A rotten apple

Answer · why

B) A lump of coal

A lump of coal is the naughty-child threat, while stockings recall a legend of Saint Nicholas tossing gold through a window for three poor sisters.