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Free New Year quiz: 40 trivia questions with explained answers on New Year's Eve traditions around the world, Epiphany and the French king cake. No sign-up.
Start this quiz →🖨️ Printable version (20 questions + answers)
Why do Spaniards eat a ring-shaped cake on 6 January? What do Danes throw at their friends' doors? How many times do Japanese temple bells ring on New Year's Eve? This New Year quiz travels through the traditions of the season around the world, from the Times Square Ball Drop to Rio's beaches, from the Vienna New Year's Concert to the French king cake and its hidden charm. Every answer is explained: perfect for a New Year's Eve party or a family quiz in January.
This quiz currently has 40 questions, ranging from easy to hard, available in French, English and Spanish when the Spanish translation is available.
Warm up before the quiz with these 8 trivia questions and their explained answers: click a question to reveal the answer.
Answer: Sharing the king cake to find out who will be king. In France, you “draw the kings” by sharing the galette des rois: whoever finds the charm (the fève) becomes king for the day. The phrase dates from a time when the king of the feast really was drawn by lot. No guest has ever been asked to bring myrrh.
Answer: Wear the crown and choose a queen or king. The king (or queen) of the day puts on the paper crown and picks a partner to reign with. In many families they also buy the next galette, which explains how you can eat it all through January without ever paying for one yourself.
Answer: Auld Lang Syne. “Auld Lang Syne” (“old long since”, the good old days) celebrates lasting friendship. In France the tune is best known under another title, “Ce n'est qu'un au revoir” (“It's only goodbye for now”), sung at retirement parties and summer camps.
Answer: Round. Round fruit, often twelve kinds, looks like coins and promises prosperity. In the same spirit, many Filipinos wear polka dots on 31 December. Japan's square watermelons are therefore strongly discouraged.
Answer: The poor man's share. People cut one more slice than there were guests: the “poor man's share” (or “God's share”), given to the first person in need who knocked at the door. The “angels' share”, by contrast, is the alcohol that evaporates from cognac casks as they age.
Answer: Charles IX. Before this edict, the year began, depending on the region, at Christmas, on 25 March or even at Easter, a date that changed every year! Charles IX standardised it all; the rule took effect from 1567. The Paris Parliament took several years to accept it.
Answer: A century year is only a leap year if it is divisible by 400. To match the real length of the year (about 365.2422 days), the Gregorian calendar drops three leap years every 400 years: 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years, 2000 was, and 2100 will not be. Anyone born on 29 February 1900… does not exist.
Answer: Effigies representing the “old year”. The “años viejos” are dummies made of paper, sawdust and old clothes, often caricaturing celebrities or cartoon heroes. They are burned at midnight to leave the year's misfortunes behind; some people even jump over the fire.
32 more questions are waiting for you in the quiz!