New Year. Quiz 3

1. Under which calendar is New Year’s Day January 1?

A. Julian Calendar
B. Gregorian Calendar
D. Chinese Calendar
C. Jewish Calendar
E. All of the above

2. What calendar determines the date of the Chinese New Year?

A. Lunar
B. Solar
C. Chinese
D. Zen

3. Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the new year for what religion?

A. Muslim
B. Christian
C. Buddhist
D. Jewish

4. Kwanzaa is a seven-day holiday that begins December 26 and extends through January 1. What does the word mean in Swahili?

A. First fruits
B. First people
C. First days
D. First dance

5. In the Middle Ages most European countries used the Julian calendar, so they observed New Year’s Day when?

A. February 14th
B. March 25th
C. April 1st
D. May 21st

6. The name January is derived from the Roman god Janus. What is he the god of?

A. Wine and grapes
B. Babies and childbirth
C. Clocks and calendars
D. Gates and doors

7. When do the practioners of Tibetan Buddhism celebrate New Year’s?

A. Never
B. January
C. February
D. March

8. The Roman New Year festival was called the Calends, and people decorated their homes and gave each other gifts. In early times, the ancient Romans gave each other New Year’s gifts of branches from sacred trees. Later they gave small items, such as nuts or coins, imprinted with pictures of what God?

A. Julius Caesar
B. Jesus Christ
C. Janus
D. Zeus

9. What New Year’s gift did ancient Persians give?

A. Money
B. Eggs
C. Cakes
D. Rugs

10. In ancient Egypt what event dictated the timing of New Year’s celebrations?

A. Pharaoh’s birthday
B. Flooding of the Nile
C. Solar eclipse
D. Exact alignment of stars with Great Pyramid

Key:

1. B (New Year’s Day is the first day of the year, Jan. 1, in the Gregorian calendar. Traditionally the day has been observed as a religious feast, but in modern times the arrival of the New Year has also become an occasion for spirited celebration and the making of personal resolutions).

2. A (The Chinese New Year, traditionally based on the lunar calendar, is celebrated in many American cities with the roar of blazing firecrackers, dancing dragons made from papier mache and cloth, and traditional music).

3. D (Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew, “beginning of the year”), Jewish New Year, celebrated on the first and second days of the Jewish month of Tishri (falling in September or October) by Orthodox and Conservative Jews and on the first day alone by Reform Jews. It begins the observance of the Ten Penitential Days, a period ending with Yom Kippur that is the most solemn of the Jewish calendar. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are known as the High Holy Days).

4. A (Kwanzaa, or matunda ya kwanza, is Swahili for “first fruits”. This is an African American holiday observed by African communities throughout the world that celebrates family, community, and culture. Kwanzaa has its roots in the ancient African first-fruit harvest celebrations from which it takes its name. However, its modern history begins in 1966 when it was developed by African American scholar and activist Maulana Karenga).

5. B (In the Middle Ages most European countries used the Julian calendar and observed New Year’s Day on March 25, called Annunciation Day and celebrated as the occasion on which it was revealed to Mary that she would give birth to the Son of God).

6. D (The name of the month is derived from Janus, the Roman god of gates and doors, and hence of openings and beginnings. January was the 11th month of the year in the ancient Roman calendar; in the 2nd century BC, however, it came to be regarded as the first month. On January 1 the Romans offered sacrifices to Janus so that he would bless the new year).

7. C (Much of the ritual of Tibetan Buddhism is based on the esoteric mysticism of Tantra, devotions that involve both yoga and mantra, or a mystical formula, and ancient shamanistic practices. On special holidays the temples, shrines, and altars of the lamas are decorated with symbolic figures; milk, butter, tea, flour, and similar offerings are brought by the worshipers, animal sacrifices being strictly forbidden. Tibetan Buddhist religious festivals are numerous. The most notable are New Year’s, celebrated in February and marking the commencement of spring).

8. C (In later years, they gave gold-covered nuts or coins imprinted with pictures of Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings. January was named after Janus, who had two faces – one looking forward and the other looking backward. The Romans also brought gifts to the emperor. The emperors eventually began to demand such gifts).

9. B (The ancient Persians gave New Year’s gifts of eggs, which symbolized productiveness).

10. B (In ancient Egypt, New Year was celebrated at the time the River Nile flooded, which was near the end of September. The flooding of the Nile was very important because without it, the people would not have been able to grow crops in the dry desert. At New Year, statues of the god Amon and his wife and son were taken up the Nile by boat. Singing, dancing, and feasting was done for a month, and then the statues were taken back to the temple).