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Seven days of questions and answers

New Year Trivia Answers Archive

Review earlier daily rounds, reveal the correct answer, and use the short explanation to learn the fact behind each question. Page 1 of 12 covers seven completed UTC days.

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Daily round

  1. How many times are Buddhist temple bells traditionally rung for Joya no Kane in Japan?

    Answer: 108

    Joya no Kane ceremonies ring temple bells 108 times, reflecting a Buddhist enumeration of worldly desires.

  2. Songkran is a traditional New Year festival in which country?

    Answer: Thailand

    Songkran is Thailand's traditional New Year festival, observed in April.

  3. What is osechi ryōri?

    Answer: Japanese New Year dishes

    Osechi ryōri is the assortment of symbolic foods prepared for Japanese New Year.

  4. Which punctuation mark is often used to separate hours, minutes, and seconds in a digital countdown?

    Answer: Colon

    Digital time displays conventionally use colons between hours, minutes, and seconds.

  5. Which festival traditionally closes the Chinese New Year celebration period?

    Answer: Lantern Festival

    The Lantern Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month and concludes the traditional festivities.

Daily round

  1. What is the Vietnamese lunar New Year commonly called?

    Answer: Tết

    Tết is the familiar shortened name for Vietnam's lunar New Year festival.

  2. Which Japanese decoration combines pine and bamboo at New Year?

    Answer: Kadomatsu

    Kadomatsu decorations use pine and bamboo and are placed near entrances for New Year.

  3. Which country recognizes Matariki as a public holiday?

    Answer: New Zealand

    New Zealand established a national public holiday celebrating Matariki.

  4. How many time zones does mainland China officially use?

    Answer: One

    Mainland China observes one official time zone, China Standard Time.

  5. Apples are traditionally dipped in what food for a sweet Rosh Hashanah?

    Answer: Honey

    Apples dipped in honey express a wish for a sweet year in Jewish custom.

Daily round

  1. Which country has a New Year custom of casting molten metal and interpreting its shape?

    Answer: Finland

    Finnish New Year fortune-telling traditionally interprets shapes formed by cooled molten metal.

  2. Which date is added to the Gregorian calendar in a leap year?

    Answer: February 29

    Leap years add February 29 to keep the calendar aligned with Earth's orbit.

  3. What is the Scottish name for the final day of the old year and its celebrations?

    Answer: Hogmanay

    Hogmanay is the Scottish term for New Year's Eve and the surrounding festivities.

  4. Which sweet rice balls are commonly served at the Lantern Festival?

    Answer: Tangyuan

    Tangyuan are round glutinous-rice dumplings whose shape symbolizes family unity.

  5. Which round bread may conceal a coin in Greek New Year celebrations?

    Answer: Vasilopita

    Vasilopita is cut around New Year, and finding its hidden coin is considered fortunate.

Daily round

  1. Which legume is eaten in parts of the southern United States for New Year luck?

    Answer: Black-eyed peas

    Black-eyed peas are a customary New Year's food in parts of the American South.

  2. Which ancient Roman ruler gave his name to the Julian calendar?

    Answer: Julius Caesar

    Julius Caesar sponsored the reform that produced the Julian calendar.

  3. Which song did bandleader Guy Lombardo famously perform on New Year's broadcasts?

    Answer: Auld Lang Syne

    Guy Lombardo's New Year's broadcasts helped establish Auld Lang Syne as a North American midnight standard.

  4. What is the first shrine or temple visit of the year called in Japan?

    Answer: Hatsumōde

    Hatsumōde is the customary first visit to a Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple after New Year begins.

  5. What time standard replaced Greenwich Mean Time as the principal international civil reference?

    Answer: Coordinated Universal Time

    Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated UTC, is the main global civil time standard.

Daily round

  1. In which river is the London Eye reflected during many London New Year celebrations?

    Answer: Thames

    The London Eye stands beside the River Thames in central London.

  2. Enkutatash is the New Year holiday of which country?

    Answer: Ethiopia

    Enkutatash marks the new year in Ethiopia's calendar tradition.

  3. The name Nowruz comes from Persian words meaning what?

    Answer: New day

    Nowruz combines Persian words whose English meanings are new and day.

  4. In which year did the first Times Square New Year's Eve ball drop take place?

    Answer: 1907

    The first Times Square ball was lowered to welcome 1908 on December 31, 1907.

  5. What is the thirteenth-day outdoor observance that concludes Nowruz festivities in Iran?

    Answer: Sizdah Bedar

    Sizdah Bedar is traditionally spent outdoors on the thirteenth day of Nowruz.

Daily round

  1. What traditional object is lowered at midnight in Times Square?

    Answer: A ball

    A lighted ball descends a flagpole above Times Square as midnight approaches.

  2. Which California city hosts the Rose Parade on New Year's Day?

    Answer: Pasadena

    The Tournament of Roses Parade travels through Pasadena, California.

  3. Which paper accessory is traditionally pulled apart at festive British dinners?

    Answer: Christmas cracker

    A Christmas cracker is pulled by two people and opens with a snap, often around the New Year holiday period.

  4. Which instrument is sounded during Rosh Hashanah services?

    Answer: Shofar

    The shofar, traditionally made from a ram's horn, is sounded during Rosh Hashanah.

  5. Matariki marks the Māori New Year through the appearance of what?

    Answer: A star cluster

    Matariki is the Māori name for the Pleiades, whose rising signals the new year in many Māori traditions.

Daily round

  1. Which city hosts the annual Mummers Parade on New Year's Day?

    Answer: Philadelphia

    Philadelphia's Mummers Parade features costumed clubs performing on New Year's Day.

  2. Which animal comes first in the Chinese zodiac cycle?

    Answer: Rat

    The Rat occupies the first position in the twelve-animal Chinese zodiac sequence.

  3. How many animals form the traditional Chinese zodiac cycle?

    Answer: Twelve

    The Chinese zodiac repeats a sequence of twelve animal signs.

  4. Nowruz begins near which astronomical event?

    Answer: March equinox

    Nowruz begins at the vernal equinox, when day and night are approximately equal.

  5. Which city is famous for a New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square?

    Answer: New York City

    New York City hosts the well-known Times Square ball drop on New Year's Eve.