Christmas quiz: 30 questions with answers, from Advent wreaths to Boxing Day

Thirty questions, in four rounds of increasing difficulty: traditions, songs and films, food, and Christmas around the world. Read them out one at a time with a twenty-second answer window, or type them into a community quiz so everybody answers on their own phone and the score keeps itself. Each answer comes with the one sentence of story that makes it worth knowing, which is what turns a quiz into a conversation.

The facts are the ones agreed by the usual references. Where a "first" is disputed — who invented the Christmas tree, who drew the first red-suited Santa — the question says "commonly credited", and so should you.

1. How many candles are on a traditional Advent wreath? Four, one for each Sunday of Advent. The wreath was invented in 1839 by Johann Hinrich Wichern, a Hamburg pastor, for the children of his orphanage — his first one had 24 small red candles and four large white ones, one candle per day.

2. Which country is the Christmas tree custom commonly credited to? Germany. The earliest written records of decorated trees at Christmas come from the sixteenth century in the Alsace and the Upper Rhine; Strasbourg has a record from 1605.

3. In which town was "Silent Night" first performed, and in which year? Oberndorf near Salzburg, Austria, on Christmas Eve 1818. Joseph Mohr wrote the words, Franz Xaver Gruber the melody, and it was sung to a guitar because the church organ was out of order.

4. Which German reformer is credited with promoting the Christkind, the gift-bringing Christ child, as an alternative to Saint Nicholas? Martin Luther, in the sixteenth century — Protestants were not meant to venerate saints, so the gifts moved from 6 December to Christmas Eve.

5. On which date is Saint Nicholas Day? 6 December. The historical Nicholas was a fourth-century bishop of Myra, which is today Demre on the Turkish coast.

6. What is traditionally hung in a doorway so that people who meet beneath it are expected to kiss? Mistletoe — a custom that took its modern form in eighteenth-century England.

7. Which German city's Christmas market, the Striezelmarkt, is generally counted as the oldest in Germany, first held in 1434? Dresden.

8. How many days can Advent last at most? 28 — and at least 22, depending on which weekday Christmas falls on.

9. Name Santa's eight original reindeer from the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas". Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner (originally Dunder) and Blitzen (originally Blixem). Rudolph came later — invented in 1939 by Robert L. May for a department store booklet.

10. "Jingle Bells" was originally written for which holiday? Thanksgiving. James Lord Pierpont published it in 1857 as "One Horse Open Sleigh"; it mentions Christmas nowhere.

11. Which band released "Last Christmas", and in which year? Wham!, in 1984. It became the UK's best-selling single never to reach number one — until it finally did, in January 2021.

12. Who sings "All I Want for Christmas Is You", and when was it released? Mariah Carey, 1994. It reached number one on the US charts for the first time only in 2019, twenty-five years later.

13. Who wrote "A Christmas Carol", and what is the name of its miser? Charles Dickens, published in 1843; Ebenezer Scrooge.

14. Which author created the Grinch? Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel), in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" from 1957.

15. In which city is "Home Alone" set? Chicago — the McCallister house is in the suburb of Winnetka, Illinois.

16. Which composer wrote the ballet "The Nutcracker", first performed in 1892? Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, based on a story by E. T. A. Hoffmann.

17. Which German city is famous for its Lebkuchen? Nuremberg. "Nürnberger Lebkuchen" has been a protected geographical indication since 1996.

18. Which city gives its name to Germany's most famous Christmas Stollen? Dresden — the "Dresdner Christstollen" is also protected, and the city bakes a giant one for its Stollenfest every December.

19. Which dish is the classic German Christmas Eve meal in many families, especially in the east and south — a fish, not a bird? Carp. The goose comes on Christmas Day.

20. Which hot drink, sold at every German Christmas market, is made from red wine, spices and sugar? Glühwein. A version with a shot of rum or amaretto is a Feuerzangenbowle only if a sugar loaf is set alight over it.

21. What are the three gifts the Magi bring in the Gospel of Matthew? Gold, frankincense and myrrh.

22. In which country does a Christmas Eve dinner traditionally have twelve meatless dishes, one for each apostle? Poland — the Wigilia supper, which begins when the first star appears.

23. On which date do Orthodox Christians in Russia celebrate Christmas? 7 January — the Russian Orthodox Church still uses the Julian calendar, which is thirteen days behind.

24. Who brings Italian children their presents on 6 January? La Befana, an old woman on a broomstick who fills stockings on the eve of Epiphany.

25. What is celebrated in the United Kingdom on 26 December? Boxing Day — named, most likely, for the boxes of money given to servants and tradespeople the day after Christmas.

26. Which country does Christmas Island belong to? Australia. It was named by an English captain who sighted it on Christmas Day 1643.

27. Which company's advertising, drawn by Haddon Sundblom from 1931, is commonly credited with fixing the modern image of Santa Claus in a red suit? Coca-Cola — though red-suited Santas appeared in print decades earlier.

28. In front of which New York building is a famous Christmas tree lit every year, a tradition since 1933? Rockefeller Center.

29. Which East German-Czechoslovak film from 1973 is shown on German television every Christmas? "Three Wishes for Cinderella" ("Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel").

30. Who sang "Feliz Navidad", released in 1970? José Feliciano — the song alternates a Spanish verse with an English one, and he wrote both.

Read the questions in order — the rounds get harder — and keep a running score after each. If you are hosting online, put the four rounds into a community quiz with the answers as multiple choice (the wrong options are easy to write: for the reindeer question, "Rudolph" is the trap), and play it in quiz-night mode so the host reads from a screen while everybody answers on their phones. Two estimation questions make a good tie-breaker: how many gifts in "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (364), and in which year "Silent Night" was first sung (1818).