AG AIGAMELIB 59 playable now, 61 experiments Play a case
Menu

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 3 of 12 covers seven completed UTC days.

Play today's quiz

Daily round

  1. Which performance features a team operating a long fabric creature during Chinese New Year?

    Answer: Dragon dance

    A dragon dance uses multiple performers to animate a long, flexible dragon figure.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

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

    Answer: Decade

    A decade is a span of ten years.

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 food is tossed at doors in Greece as a New Year symbol of abundance?

    Answer: A pomegranate

    Greek New Year custom may involve smashing a pomegranate so its many seeds symbolize abundance.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. What is burned in parts of Ecuador at midnight to represent the old year?

    Answer: An effigy

    Ecuadorian año viejo traditions burn an effigy symbolizing the departing year.

Daily round

  1. Which song is traditionally sung at midnight in many English-speaking New Year celebrations?

    Answer: Auld Lang Syne

    Auld Lang Syne is widely sung as the old year gives way to the new one.

  2. 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.

  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 city stages a major New Year's Eve fireworks display around its harbour bridge and opera house?

    Answer: Sydney

    Sydney's harbour landmarks form the setting for its internationally recognized fireworks display.

  5. 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.

Daily round

  1. 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.

  2. The abbreviation BCE is commonly expanded as what?

    Answer: Before Common Era

    BCE means Before Common Era and labels years preceding the Common Era.

  3. In Denmark, what household item may people jump from at midnight?

    Answer: A chair

    A Danish custom has celebrants jump from a chair to symbolically leap into the new year.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

Daily round

  1. 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.

  2. Which country is the historical center of the Nowruz tradition?

    Answer: Iran

    Nowruz has deep roots in ancient Persia, corresponding largely to modern Iran.

  3. Losar is a New Year festival in which cultural tradition?

    Answer: Tibetan

    Losar is the Tibetan New Year and is observed across Tibetan Buddhist communities.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

Daily round

  1. Which citrus fruit often tops the Japanese New Year decoration kagami mochi?

    Answer: Daidai

    A daidai bitter orange traditionally sits atop the stacked rice cakes of kagami mochi.

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

    Answer: Ethiopia

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

  3. Which country recognizes Matariki as a public holiday?

    Answer: New Zealand

    New Zealand established a national public holiday celebrating Matariki.

  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. How many days does a common Gregorian year contain?

    Answer: 365

    A common Gregorian year has 365 days; a leap year has one additional day.

Daily round

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

    Answer: Julius Caesar

    Julius Caesar sponsored the reform that produced the Julian calendar.

  2. Which sticky rice cakes are traditional Japanese New Year foods?

    Answer: Mochi

    Mochi made from pounded glutinous rice is strongly associated with Japanese New Year meals.

  3. 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.

  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 college football game is traditionally linked with Pasadena's New Year celebration?

    Answer: Rose Bowl

    The Rose Bowl game is the sporting counterpart to Pasadena's Tournament of Roses events.