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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. What is the name for a period of ten consecutive years?

    Answer: Decade

    A decade is a span of ten years.

  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. What is the Sinhala and Tamil New Year commonly associated with in Sri Lanka?

    Answer: The Sun's transition into Aries

    Sri Lanka's April New Year is traditionally timed through an astrological transition of the Sun into Aries.

  4. Which calendar term means a continuous system of numbered years beginning from a reference event?

    Answer: Era

    A calendar era numbers years from a designated epoch or reference point.

  5. Which noodle dish is commonly eaten on New Year's Eve in Japan?

    Answer: Toshikoshi soba

    Toshikoshi soba, meaning year-crossing noodles, is a Japanese New Year's Eve tradition.

Daily round

  1. Which yellow flower is associated with Ethiopia's Enkutatash season?

    Answer: Adey abeba

    The yellow adey abeba flower blooms around the Ethiopian New Year and symbolizes the season.

  2. Approximately how long does Earth take to orbit the Sun once?

    Answer: 365.24 days

    Earth's tropical year is about 365.24 days, which is why leap-day adjustments are needed.

  3. Rosh Hashanah is the New Year observance of which religion?

    Answer: Judaism

    Rosh Hashanah marks the Jewish New Year within the Hebrew calendar.

  4. Which Brazilian city is known for a large beach celebration at Copacabana?

    Answer: Rio de Janeiro

    Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro hosts a major New Year's Eve gathering.

  5. Thingyan is the traditional New Year water festival of which country?

    Answer: Myanmar

    Thingyan is Myanmar's April New Year celebration and is widely known for water festivities.

Daily round

  1. During which New Zealand season does the predawn rising of Matariki occur?

    Answer: Winter

    Matariki rises in New Zealand's predawn sky during winter and marks a new seasonal cycle.

  2. In Spain, how many grapes are traditionally eaten with the midnight clock chimes?

    Answer: Twelve

    Spain's midnight custom uses twelve grapes, one for each clock chime and month ahead.

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

    Answer: Tết

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

  4. Which item is commonly raised for a toast at midnight?

    Answer: A drinking glass

    Participants commonly lift drinking glasses when making a New Year's toast.

  5. Which color is prominently associated with good fortune during Chinese New Year?

    Answer: Red

    Red decorations and envelopes signify luck and celebration during Chinese New Year.

Daily round

  1. 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.

  2. What is the Japanese New Year holiday called?

    Answer: Shōgatsu

    Shōgatsu is the Japanese celebration of the new calendar year.

  3. Which imaginary line largely determines where one calendar date changes to the next?

    Answer: International Date Line

    Crossing the International Date Line changes the civil date by one day.

  4. What is an epoch in calendar terminology?

    Answer: A reference point from which time is counted

    An epoch is the chosen starting instant used by a chronological system.

  5. Which clock tower's bell is commonly called Big Ben during London's New Year broadcasts?

    Answer: Elizabeth Tower

    Big Ben is the nickname of the Great Bell housed in Elizabeth Tower.

Daily round

  1. What are red envelopes containing gift money commonly called in Mandarin?

    Answer: Hóngbāo

    Hóngbāo are red envelopes used to present money on holidays and special occasions.

  2. What name is given to a party horn that unrolls when blown?

    Answer: Noisemaker

    A party noisemaker may produce sound and extend a rolled paper tube when blown.

  3. Which ancient civilization is often credited with recording early New Year resolutions?

    Answer: Babylonians

    Ancient Babylonians made seasonal promises connected with debts and returned property.

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

    Answer: New day

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

  5. Which Paris landmark is often illuminated during New Year celebrations?

    Answer: Eiffel Tower

    The Eiffel Tower is a prominent focus of Parisian New Year imagery and illumination.

Daily round

  1. Which April festival marks the traditional New Year in Laos?

    Answer: Pi Mai

    Pi Mai is the Lao New Year festival, celebrated with cleansing and water customs.

  2. 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.

  3. What does the Latin phrase “anno Domini” literally mean?

    Answer: In the year of the Lord

    Anno Domini literally means “in the year of the Lord” and underlies the abbreviation AD.

  4. Which Roman deity's two faces made him a symbol of looking backward and forward?

    Answer: Janus

    Janus was conventionally shown with two faces and associated with beginnings and passages.

  5. Which season begins around the civil New Year in the Southern Hemisphere?

    Answer: Summer

    January falls in summer in the Southern Hemisphere because Earth's axial tilt reverses the seasonal pattern.

Daily round

  1. Which flower is especially associated with Tết in northern Vietnam?

    Answer: Peach blossom

    Pink peach blossoms are a traditional Tết decoration in northern Vietnam.

  2. What time of day does 00:00 mark at the start of January 1?

    Answer: Midnight

    The 24-hour notation 00:00 marks midnight, the civil boundary between December 31 and January 1.

  3. What is osechi ryōri?

    Answer: Japanese New Year dishes

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

  4. In the Scottish custom of first-footing, what does the “first foot” describe?

    Answer: The first visitor after midnight

    First-footing centers on the first person to enter a home after midnight.

  5. What is the final month of the Gregorian calendar year?

    Answer: December

    December is the twelfth and final month of the Gregorian year.