Christmas quiz

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 5

Christmas is coming...

frankincense

Christmas elves

turkey

tinsel

magi

tiny Tim

Christmas pudding

mince pies

Christmas cracker

drummers

partridge

pipers

lords

callingbirds

maids

ladies

rings

hens

geese

swans

turtledoves

In the middle of the 1500s, a meeting of priests banned pictures of Jesus in the bath. Why?

1. The baby Jesus had no clothes on and they thought it was a bit rude
2. Jesus was so pure he would never have needed a bath
3. Baths hadn't been invented when Jesus was born so it was a daft thing to show

One of the gifts of the magi (wijzen) was frankincense (wierook). The Romans used frankincense for their funerals. How?

1. They burned it with the bodies at funerals
2. They dressed the corpse of a dead friend with perfumed robes
3. They put it in the coffin so the corpse would have riches in the afterlife

Put them end to end and they'd stretch from the Tower of London to the pyramids of Egypt. What?

1. 
2. 
3. 

The British Isles could sink under the extra 158,000 tonnes we put on them every Christmas. Tonnes of what?

1. 
2. 
3. 

In the 20th century, British people bought 1,6 billion of them every year. What?

1. 
2. 
3. 

Britain spends 450 million Pounds on them every Christmas. What?

1. 
2. 
3. 

They've been on Earth nine million years longer than humans. What?

1. 
2. 
3. 

Put them end to end and they'd go almost four times round the world. What?

1. The Christmas wrapping paper bought each year
2. The toilet paper used on Christmas Day
3. Old men pretending to be Father Christmas in shops

British people take five million of them at Christmas. What?

1. Indigestion tablets (maagzuurremmers)
2. Baths
3. Seats in church

Put them end to end and they'd stretch to the moon. What?

1. The rolls of sticky tape we buy for Christmas
2. The Christmas puddings we buy each Christmas
3. Christmas dinner Brussels sprouts

Who was Scrooge's first ghostly visitor? (in A Christmas Carol)

1. Jacob Marley
2. Christmas Past

In Finland Santa's sleigh is pulled by...

1. a goat called Ukko
2. a duck called Dukko

The world's largest Christmas cracker (50 metres long) was made in 1991 in...

1. Australia
2. Austria

In 1975 Werner Ehrhard sent a record number of Christmas cards, a total of...

1. 12.824
2. 62.824

You find a button in your Christmas pudding. What does that mean?

1. You'll be rich
2. You won't get married

Why does Father Christmas go to all the trouble of squeezing down chimneys when he could just dump your presents on the doorstep, knock on the door and zoom off on his sleigh?

1. Because Saint Nicholas was the saint of chimney sweeps
2. Because there was a pagan legend about a goddess who arrived down the chimney
3. Because doors hadn't been invented when he first started visiting houses

How long did it take Charles Dickens to write A Christmas Carol?

1. 22 years
2. 2 years
3. 2 months

How long did it take for A Christmas Carol to be a hit?

1. It was slow at first but sold out in 10 years
2. It was an instant success and sold out as soon as it appeared
3. By the following Christmas (1844) it had sold out

What effect did Dickens's success have on him?

1. All the travelling and performing killed him.
2. It made a jealous writer kill him.
3. It made him so rich his wife killed him to get her hands on his money.

When Dickens died it was a shock to the Christmas industry. One little girl said what?

1. Does that mean that Father Christmas is dead?
2. Does that mean Tiny Tim is dead?
3. Does that mean there'll be no more Christmases?

The 'X' in Xmas stands for the cross that Jesus died on.

1. True
2. False

In the Middle Ages you could get a ready-cooked goose take away for Christmas.

1. True
2. False

Tinsel is put on Christmas trees because it looks like spiders' webs.

1. True
2. False

The popular song 'Jingle Bells' was written especially for Christmas.

1. True
2. False

Santa is dead and buried in Italy.

1. True
2. False

How many white Christmases did London have in the entire 20th century?

1. 2
2. 7
3. 13

The American National Christmas tree is where?

1. Central Park, New York, where 10 million people can see it.
2. King's Canyon in California, where about 10 people can see it.
3. Alaska, where about 10 polar bears can see it.

Sherlock Holmes had a Christmas adventure called 'The Blue Carbuncle'. Where was the blue carbuncle (diamond) found?

1. Inside a Christmas goose
2. Inside the sack of a burglar who disguised himself as Santa
3. Inside the pipe of his assistant, Doctor Watson

What was the poem 'The night before Christmas' called when it was first written?

1. 'A visit from Rudolf'
2. 'A visit from the Christmas fairy'
3. 'A visit from Saint Nicholas'

In 1841 Gateshead on Tyneside had a colourful first. What?

1. A white Christmas when snow fell two metres deep
2. A blue Christmas when people turned blue as a result of a cholera infection
3. A red Christmas when a local brickworks exploded and covered the town in brick dust

In 1932 King George V gave the British public its first what?

1. Christmas message on the radio
2. Christmas street-lights which he switched on at Chelmsford
3. Christmas fireworks display from Buckingham Palace

In 1800 there was a famous first at Windsor, where Queen Charlotte has what?

1. A Christmas tree
2. A Christmas tree with electric lights
3. A Christmas tree with woodworm

Christmas tree electric lights are first used in America around what year?

1. 1850
2. 1880
3. 1920

In 1914 Britain had a Christmas present from Germany that is a first. What?

1. The first German Shepherd dog as a present for the queen
2. The first German measles, caught by a Welsh boy in Scotland
3. The first German bomb

In 1864 a club arranged what seasonal shivering fun first?

1. Taking off their clothes and racing to the top of Ben Nevis mountain in Scotland
2. Taking off their clothes and sledging down the hill at Windsor castle
3. Taking off their clothes and swimming in a lake in London's Hyde Park