How it works
These May trivia questions and answers are about the month itself: 88 multiple-choice questions in six rounds, on its name, May Day customs, the Battle of Puebla, Mother's Day and Memorial Day, dated events, and its skies and wildlife.
Read the full guide
What the six rounds ask
The name, the calendar and the birthstone asks which goddess May is named for and what the Anglo-Saxons called it. May Day and spring festivals runs from maypole ribbons to carp streamers in Japan. Cinco de Mayo and the Battle of Puebla is plain history: who fought, who won and what followed. Mother's Day and Memorial Day asks how each holiday began. It happened in May and May skies, flowers and wildlife close the set.
Trivia questions for May, read aloud or on paper
Read a question aloud, let the table vote, then tap the choice: the right answer is marked and its reason follows. After ten questions the score card shows Print question sheet; open More options there for Topic and Print answer key.
Tips
- Mixed ages? After the first ten, pick May Day and spring festivals under More options: the gentlest round by our estimate.
- Mother's Day and Memorial Day has the most hard questions by our estimate: one asks which town was named the holiday's birthplace.
- Holidays that move each year are asked by their rule, never by this year's date, so the set does not go stale.
Questions and answers
What is the month of May named after?
Most likely Maia, a goddess of Greek myth whom the Romans linked with their own Bona Dea. The poet Ovid gave a second answer: the maiores, Latin for elders. Both questions sit in The name, the calendar and the birthstone.
Is Cinco de Mayo Mexico's Independence Day?
No. Cinco de Mayo marks a Mexican victory over a French army at Puebla on May 5, 1862, and Mexico's Independence Day is September 16. The round Cinco de Mayo and the Battle of Puebla asks about both, and about the general who won.
Is there Memorial Day trivia in this set?
Yes. Mother's Day and Memorial Day asks what the day was first called, who set its first date in 1868, and when it moved to a Monday. The questions are plain history, written to be read aloud at a cookout with children at the table.
What happened in May in history?
The first ascent of Everest in 1953, the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937 and Lindbergh's flight to Paris in 1927, among others. It happened in May asks about each. Every answer was read on October 1, 2026 in its linked article.