Christmas Quiz Crazy Christmas Traditions In the Ukraine

Christmas Quiz

Crazy Christmas Traditions In the Ukraine, a particularly odd form of decoration is often added to Christmas trees. Which is it? A) B) C) D) A spider’s web A mouldy orange An owl pellet A dead sunflower

Crazy Christmas Traditions In Italy, an unusual character is said to be the bringer of gifts. Which is it? A) B) C) D) A Turkish horse-rider A witch on a broomstick A young sheep A small camel

Crazy Christmas Traditions Dutch children don’t hang up stockings for presents. What do they do instead? A) B) C) D) Leave hats outside the door Put shoes in front of the fire Leave presents all up the stairs Hide presents around the kitchen

Crazy Christmas Traditions In Sweden, what is a common form of Christmas decoration? A) B) C) D) A donkey made of chairs and coats A small wooden camel A 4 -foot star made of holly branches A straw goat

Crazy Christmas Traditions What would an Icelandic child have expected for Christmas 100 years ago? A) B) C) D) A boot-jack A black sheepskin A figurine shaped from volcanic rock Nothing at all

True or False 1. Christmas has only been celebrated on the 25 th December for the last 500 years. 2. Christmas was once illegal in England. 3. There are exactly 3 ghosts in Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ 4. A law was once passed which has made snow less likely on Christmas Day. 5. The word Mistletoe means ‘dung on a twig’ in Anglo-Saxon. 6. The elephant is the traditional animal of Christmas in the south of India.

Number-crunching 1. How many Christmas trees are sold in the USA every year? 2. During the Christmas season, how many cards are delivered by the Royal Mail every day? 3. What proportion of dogs in Britain get Christmas presents? 4. In the run up to Christmas, how many times a minute is a Visa card (credit card) used in America?

Unlikely Which name did Charles Dickens consider before finally choosing ‘Tiny Tim’ as his character in ‘A Christmas Carol’? A) B) C) D) Little Larry Puny Pete Small Sam Mini Mike

Why? For many years the robin has been a traditional Christmas bird in Britain, appearing most commonly on Christmas cards. It’s not really a winter bird – it only appears at the start of spring, so why do we associate it with Christmas?

Unusual Robert Louis Stevenson (author of Treasure Island) left a most unusual Christmas related gift in his will. It belonged to him, it cost him nothing, it could not be taken from him. You could argue that it could not be given away, but it was accepted most gratefully by the recipient. What was it?

America Our North American cousins generally go a bit OTT at Christmas time. Which of these is true? 1) Our traditional image of Santa Claus comes from Coca-Cola artwork. 2) Canadians have given Santa Claus an official address, with the postcode HO H O HO. 3) On Christmas Eve restaurants traditionally charge nothing for their meals (but a suitably festive tip is expected). 4) The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) provides radar tracking of Santa’s sleigh every year.

The Truth Many years before Christmas was celebrated, a young Jewish boy grew up in Egypt, one of the few survivors of a government massacre of under-2 year-olds. What was his name?

Picture Round Which of the snowflakes are genuine, and which are artificially created?