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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 5 of 12 covers seven completed UTC days.

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Daily round

  1. 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.

  2. What causes the cycle of seasons experienced through a year?

    Answer: Earth's axial tilt

    Earth's tilted axis changes the angle and duration of sunlight as the planet orbits the Sun.

  3. 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.

  4. Which Pacific island nation is among the first countries to enter a new year by civil time?

    Answer: Kiribati

    Kiribati's Line Islands use UTC+14, placing them among the earliest inhabited places to begin a new civil year.

  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. 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. What gas creates bubbles in sparkling wine?

    Answer: Carbon dioxide

    Dissolved carbon dioxide forms the streams of bubbles in sparkling wine.

  3. The title “Auld Lang Syne” comes from which language?

    Answer: Scots

    Auld Lang Syne is a Scots phrase referring roughly to times long past.

  4. 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.

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

    Answer: One

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

Daily round

  1. 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.

  2. Which square rice cake is a traditional Tết food?

    Answer: Bánh chưng

    Bánh chưng is a square glutinous-rice cake filled with mung bean and pork for Tết.

  3. What is the Nowruz table of seven symbolic items called?

    Answer: Haft-sin

    Haft-sin is a display of seven items whose Persian names begin with the letter sin.

  4. 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.

  5. What is osechi ryōri?

    Answer: Japanese New Year dishes

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

Daily round

  1. Which event starts the numbering of years in the Islamic calendar?

    Answer: The Hijra

    The Islamic era is counted from the Hijra, Muhammad's migration from Mecca to Medina.

  2. Which country celebrates Seollal as a major traditional holiday?

    Answer: South Korea

    Seollal is the Korean lunar New Year and a major holiday in South Korea.

  3. 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.

  4. Nowruz begins near which astronomical event?

    Answer: March equinox

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

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

    Answer: Thailand

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

Daily round

  1. Which object do some Colombians carry at midnight as a wish for travel in the new year?

    Answer: An empty suitcase

    Some Colombians walk with an empty suitcase at midnight as a wish for travel in the coming year.

  2. Which instrument is sounded during Rosh Hashanah services?

    Answer: Shofar

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

  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. What leafy vegetable often represents paper money in southern U.S. New Year meals?

    Answer: Collard greens

    Collard greens are linked symbolically with money because of their green, folded leaves.

  5. What does a countdown measure before midnight?

    Answer: Time remaining

    A countdown announces the shrinking number of seconds until the new year begins.

Daily round

  1. 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.

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

    Answer: Peach blossom

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

  3. 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.

  4. What color underwear is traditionally associated with New Year luck in parts of Latin America?

    Answer: Yellow

    Yellow clothing, including underwear, is used in several Latin American New Year customs as a symbol of luck or prosperity.

  5. Who wrote the version of “Auld Lang Syne” that made the song famous?

    Answer: Robert Burns

    Scottish poet Robert Burns recorded and adapted the words associated with Auld Lang Syne.

Daily round

  1. How many years make a century?

    Answer: 100

    A century comprises one hundred years.

  2. Rosh Hashanah begins in which Hebrew month?

    Answer: Tishrei

    Rosh Hashanah starts on the first day of Tishrei in the Hebrew calendar.

  3. Which American state is represented by the fruit in Atlanta's Peach Drop tradition?

    Answer: Georgia

    Atlanta's Peach Drop draws on the peach's longstanding association with Georgia.

  4. Confetti was named after small sweets from which country?

    Answer: Italy

    The word confetti comes from Italian sweets once thrown during festive occasions.

  5. Which calendar has thirteen months, including a short final month called Pagumen?

    Answer: Ethiopian calendar

    The Ethiopian calendar uses twelve 30-day months plus the short month Pagumen.