Classroom
Holiday Jeopardy
Christmas around the world, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Lunar New Year and the solstice, for grades 4 to 8.
Christmas around the world
- 100Christians celebrate Christmas as the birthday of this personWho is Jesus?
- 200In the UK, New Zealand and most of Canada and Australia, 26 December is this holidayWhat is Boxing Day?
- 300Sweden honours this saint on 13 December, with a girl in a white gown and a crown of candlesWho is Saint Lucia (Saint Lucy)?
- 400In this nine-night Mexican celebration, people act out Mary and Joseph’s search for a place to stayWhat is Las Posadas?
- 500Many Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on 7 January because they follow this older calendarWhat is the Julian calendar?
Hanukkah
- 100Hanukkah is often called the Festival of theseWhat are Lights?
- 200The number of nights Hanukkah lastsWhat is eight?
- 300The spinning top with a Hebrew letter on each of its four sidesWhat is a dreidel?
- 400Potato pancakes fried in oil and eaten at HanukkahWhat are latkes?
- 500The “helper” candle on the menorah that is used to light the othersWhat is the shamash?
Kwanzaa
- 100Kwanzaa, which celebrates African American culture, was first celebrated in 1966 in this countryWhat is the United States?
- 200The three colours of the Kwanzaa candlesWhat are black, red and green?
- 300The candleholder that holds the seven Kwanzaa candlesWhat is the kinara?
- 400Kwanzaa’s seven principles have names in this African languageWhat is Swahili (Kiswahili)?
- 500Umoja, the first of Kwanzaa’s seven principles, means thisWhat is unity?
Lunar New Year
- 100Lucky money is given in envelopes of this colourWhat is red?
- 200The number of animals in the Chinese zodiacWhat is 12?
- 300In this dance, two performers inside one costume play a big-headed animalWhat is the lion dance?
- 400DDLunar New Year is called Tết in this countryWhat is Vietnam?
- 500The Korean name for Lunar New YearWhat is Seollal?
Solstice and New Year
- 100In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice falls in this monthWhat is December?
- 200In Spain, people eat 12 of these fruits at midnight on New Year’s Eve, one for each chime of the clockWhat are grapes?
- 300This ancient stone circle in England lines up with the sunset on the winter solsticeWhat is Stonehenge?
- 400We have solstices because this imaginary line that the Earth spins around is tiltedWhat is the Earth’s axis?
- 500The old Norse and Germanic midwinter festival whose name is still used for ChristmastimeWhat is Yule?
Final round: Holiday names
Kwanzaa takes its name from a Swahili phrase meaning this
What are “first fruits” (of the harvest)?