The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem keeps the birth on January 6 by the Julian calendar. Which date is that on the calendar most of the world uses?Answer: January 19. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
By one account a bishop of Rome formally set December 25 as the date. Which pope, in office from 337 to 352, was he?Answer: Julius I. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
By the 'calculation theory', the date of December 25 was reached by counting nine months forward from which other date in the calendar?Answer: March 25. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
From 1882 a Shanghai newspaper of the late Qing dynasty settled on one name for Christmas. Which?Answer: Foreign Winter Solstice. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
In Roman tradition, December 25 was counted as which turning point of the year?Answer: The winter solstice. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
In the East the birth was at first kept with Epiphany on January 6. In which city was the feast of Christmas introduced in 379?Answer: Constantinople. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
Koleda is the traditional name for Christmas, and for the days from Christmas to Epiphany, among which peoples?Answer: The Slavs. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
Show all 67 questions (60 more)
How December 25 became Christmas, continued
The Roman Saturnalia was a season of parties, banquets and gifts. Over which days of December did its seven days run?Answer: December 17 to 23. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
What did the Anglo-Saxons call Christmas?Answer: Midwinter. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
Which church council of 567 proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany a sacred and festive season?Answer: The Council of Tours. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
Xmas is often taken for a modern shortcut that drops a word. To which century does the use of the term in fact go back?Answer: The 16th century. Source: Wikipedia: Xmas
Feasts and misrule in the Middle Ages 10
The 'Coventry Carol' was sung in a mystery play put on in Coventry. Which two trades gave the pageant its name?Answer: Shearmen and tailors. Source: Wikipedia: Coventry Carol
At the Christmas feast of King Richard II of England in 1377, 28 oxen were eaten. How many sheep went with them?Answer: 300. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
Christmas gifts in the Middle Ages usually passed between people tied by law. Which pair is the article's example?Answer: Tenant and landlord. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
The earliest English Christmas carols are in a manuscript of 1426 by a Shropshire chaplain. How many 'caroles of Cristemas' did he record?Answer: 25. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas carol
In a 15th-century English carol, Christmas appears as a person who brings the news and calls for good cheer. By what name?Answer: Sir Christemas. Source: Wikipedia: Father Christmas
In an old Twelfth Night custom, a bean was hidden in the cake. What did the man who found it in his slice become?Answer: King for the night. Source: Wikipedia: Twelfth Night (holiday)
In medieval England, on which day were gifts exchanged at the royal court?Answer: New Year's Day. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
In Norwich in January 1443 a man rode through the town crowned as 'King of Christmas'. What was his horse decorated with?Answer: Tinfoil. Source: Wikipedia: Father Christmas
The mince pie of earlier centuries held more than fruit and spice. What else went in?Answer: Meat such as beef or mutton. Source: Wikipedia: Mince pie
Which English poet wrote 'On the Morning of Christ's Nativity' in 1629?Answer: John Milton. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
Banned and brought back 10
After England's Puritan rulers banned Christmas, rioters held one city for weeks and decorated its doorways with holly. Which city?Answer: Canterbury. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
Boston outlawed the keeping of Christmas in 1659. In which year was the ban revoked?Answer: 1681. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
By 1860, how many American states had made Christmas a legal holiday?Answer: 14. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
Christmas became a legal holiday again in England in 1660. What brought it back?Answer: The Restoration of Charles II. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
How did the Pilgrims of New England spend their first December 25 in the New World?Answer: Working as on any other day. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
In Revolutionary France, the three kings cake was given a new name. What was it called?Answer: Equality cake. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
In which year did the Parliament of Scotland officially abolish the keeping of Christmas?Answer: 1640. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
When Christmas was outlawed in England in December 1647, what did the crowd bring out as a sign of festive misrule?Answer: Footballs. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
Which settlers of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, were keen keepers of Christmas and had the first nativity scenes in America?Answer: The Moravians. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
Why did Christmas fall out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution?Answer: It was seen as an English custom. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
Dickens, cards and the Victorian revival 12
The Advent calendar was first used in the 19th and 20th centuries by which people?Answer: German Lutherans. Source: Wikipedia: Advent calendar
Boxing Day is often tied to the 'Christmas box'. What was a Christmas box?Answer: A present or tip for tradespeople and servants. Source: Wikipedia: Boxing Day
Dickens's 'A Christmas Carol' was published on December 19, 1843. By when had the first edition sold out?Answer: Christmas Eve. Source: Wikipedia: A Christmas Carol
The first known Christmas card was made by hand in 1611. To which king was it sent?Answer: James I of England. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas card
The revival of the Christmas carol began with an 1833 collection, 'Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern'. Who compiled it?Answer: William Sandys. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
What did one of the first commercial Christmas cards cost in 1843?Answer: A shilling. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas card
What kind of place had Dickens visited shortly before he wrote 'A Christmas Carol'?Answer: A school for street children. Source: Wikipedia: A Christmas Carol
Which greeting did Charles Dickens's tale of Scrooge help to make popular after 1843?Answer: Merry Christmas. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
Who designed the first commercial Christmas card, which Sir Henry Cole commissioned in 1843?Answer: John Callcott Horsley. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas card
Who drew the pictures for the first edition of 'A Christmas Carol'?Answer: John Leech. Source: Wikipedia: A Christmas Carol
Who has been called the father of the American Christmas card?Answer: Louis Prang. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas card
Whose Sketch Book stories revived American interest in Christmas in the 1820s?Answer: Washington Irving. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas
Where the old carols came from 15
A family of traveling folk singers gave 'Silent Night' its first performance in the United States in 1839. In which city?Answer: New York City. Source: Wikipedia: Silent Night
Adolphe Adam, who set 'O Holy Night' to music, was then known for which ballet?Answer: Giselle. Source: Wikipedia: O Holy Night
Charles Wesley's carol of 1739 began 'Hark how all the welkin rings'. How does its first line run today?Answer: Hark! The herald angels sing. Source: Wikipedia: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
'The First Noel' is a traditional English carol. In which county are its origins?Answer: Cornwall. Source: Wikipedia: The First Noel
In which American city was Phillips Brooks a rector when he wrote the words of 'O Little Town of Bethlehem'?Answer: Philadelphia. Source: Wikipedia: O Little Town of Bethlehem
'O Come, All Ye Faithful' has been credited to several authors. Which king is among them?Answer: John IV of Portugal. Source: Wikipedia: O Come, All Ye Faithful
'O Holy Night' began as a poem of 1847 called 'Minuit, chrétiens'. In which language was it written?Answer: French. Source: Wikipedia: O Holy Night
Piae Cantiones, the song book of 1582 in which several old carol tunes survive, is a collection from which country?Answer: Finland. Source: Wikipedia: Good King Wenceslas
The tune of 'Good King Wenceslas' first belonged to a 13th-century carol about which season?Answer: Spring. Source: Wikipedia: Good King Wenceslas
'We Three Kings' was written in 1857 for what?Answer: A Christmas pageant in New York City. Source: Wikipedia: We Three Kings
The Wenceslas of the carol is called a king. Which lower title did he hold in his lifetime?Answer: Duke. Source: Wikipedia: Good King Wenceslas
Who composed the melody of 'Silent Night' in 1818?Answer: Franz Xaver Gruber. Source: Wikipedia: Silent Night
Who rewrote the opening couplet of Charles Wesley's Christmas carol of 1739 into the words sung today?Answer: George Whitefield. Source: Wikipedia: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Who wrote 'Jingle Bells', which did not become a Christmas song until decades after it was first performed?Answer: James Lord Pierpont. Source: Wikipedia: Jingle Bells
The words of 'Joy to the World' are a Christian reading of which psalm?Answer: Psalm 98. Source: Wikipedia: Joy to the World
Seals, stamps and a truce 9
A 'Christmas club' was first offered in Pennsylvania in 1909. What is it?Answer: A savings account for holiday spending. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas club
The Christmas truce of 1914 was a series of unofficial ceasefires. Along which front of the First World War did most of them take place?Answer: The Western Front. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas truce
Einar Holbøll, who thought of the Christmas seal in 1904, was a postal clerk in which country?Answer: Denmark. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas seal
The first Christmas seals were sold in 1904 to help children sick with which disease?Answer: Tuberculosis. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas seal
The first postage stamps to show the Nativity were issued in 1943. By which country?Answer: Hungary. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas stamp
In the Christmas truce of 1914, what did German soldiers set on their trenches before the carols began?Answer: Candles and Christmas trees. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas truce
Which president signed the law of 1870 that made Christmas a federal holiday in the United States?Answer: Ulysses S. Grant. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas in the American Civil War
Who had begged the warring governments for an official truce on December 7, 1914?Answer: Pope Benedict XV. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas truce
Why was the Christmas truce of 1914 not repeated on the same scale the following year?Answer: Commanders gave strongly worded orders against it. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas truce
How this list was compiled: Written for this site; nothing was copied from another list. Every question, wrong choice and explanation is our own wording. Each answer, and every extra fact in an explanation, agrees with a sentence or table row in the English Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org) named and linked beside the question, read on October 15, 2026; Wikipedia's text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. The 67 questions rest on 26 articles, and the article on Christmas gives 27 of them. Where an article reports a claim or a theory, the question says so (by one account, by the calculation theory, is said to). Where the articles disagree, the point is not asked: the date of Vienna's first December market is given as 1296 and 1298, and the day Scotland made Christmas a holiday is given two ways. The carols asked about are all out of copyright; no film and no song in copyright is asked. Left out on purpose: living people, company and brand names, questions of faith and doctrine, and figures that change from year to year. One answer is our arithmetic from the article's rule (the Gregorian date of a Julian January 6). Levels are our estimate for a table of adults and older children. No question repeats word for word in the site's other trivia packs as they stood on October 15, 2026. Licence: own work
How it works
History of Christmas trivia in six rounds, in the order things happened: a Roman date, medieval feasts, the Puritan bans, the Victorian revival, the old carols and the truce of 1914. No film and no song in copyright is asked.
Read the full guide
Christmas history trivia questions, round by round
How December 25 became Christmas weighs the solstice against a count of nine months. Feasts and misrule in the Middle Ages has a horse dressed in tinfoil. Banned and brought back follows the holiday out of England and Boston and back. Dickens, cards and the Victorian revival prices the first card. Where the old carols came from and Seals, stamps and a truce bring the story to 1914.
Banned and brought back is the gentlest round by our estimate, and How December 25 became Christmas the hardest.
Carol singers at the table? Start from Where the old carols came from and hum each tune before the vote.
Questions and answers
Why is Christmas on December 25?
There are several theories. One ties the date to the Roman winter solstice and a festival of the Sun held that day. Another counts nine months forward from March 25. The oldest document with the date is the Chronograph of 354.
When was Christmas banned?
The Parliament of Scotland abolished it in 1640 and England's Puritan rulers banned it in 1647. England brought it back in 1660. Boston outlawed it in 1659 and revoked the ban in 1681.
When did Christmas become a federal holiday in the United States?
On June 28, 1870, when President Ulysses S. Grant signed the law. By 1860 fourteen states had already made it a legal holiday.
Who sent the first Christmas card?
The first known card was made by hand in 1611 and sent to King James I. The first commercial card was commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in London in 1843, designed by John Callcott Horsley and sold for a shilling.
What are the oldest Christmas carols?
The earliest Christmas hymns known are in Latin, from fourth-century Rome. The earliest carols in English are 25 'caroles of Cristemas' in a manuscript of 1426.