A Christmas Quiz

A selection of 24 questions about Christmas

by Rebecca Parkinson (revised, originally published in 2010)

Suitable for Whole School (Sec)

Aims

To consider that commercialism sometimes obscures the true meaning of Christmas.

Preparation and materials

• Note: the quiz in the ‘Assembly’, Step 2, contains 24 questions, so you may wish to have available a chocolate Advent calendar so that students can open the corresponding door if they get a question correct.
  
  If this is not possible due to your school’s Covid-19 guidelines, you may wish to offer a different reward for correct answers.
  
  
• Optional: you may wish to display the quiz questions in some way, in which case you will also need the means to do so.

Assembly

1. Explain that you are going to ask the students 24 Christmas-related questions.
   
   If you are using a reward system for correct answers, such as opening Advent calendar doors or distributing chocolates or team points, explain the system to the students.
   
   
2. Tell the students that you are going to start the quiz.
   
   - Question 1: Can you name four of the original eight reindeer that pulled Santa’s sleigh in the song ‘’Twas the night before Christmas?’ (Answer: any four from Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen)
   - Question 2: What was the name of the reindeer with a shiny nose? (Answer: Rudolph)
   - Question 3: In the song ‘Twelve days of Christmas’, what gift was sent on the fifth day? (Answer: five gold rings)
   - Question 4: Santa Claus (or Father Christmas) is also known as Saint who? (Answer: Saint Nicholas)
   - Question 5: What present did Harry Potter receive on his first Christmas at Hogwarts? (Answer: an invisibility cloak)
   - Question 6: In Charles Dickens’ book A Christmas Carol, what is the name of Scrooge’s dead business partner? (Answer: Jacob Marley)
   - Question 7: How many days are there altogether in November and December? (Answer: 61)
   - Question 8: What did Tom Smith invent in 1847? (Answer: the Christmas cracker)
   - Question 9: Complete the following Christmas song title - ‘I’m dreaming of a . . .’ (Answer: white Christmas)
   - Question 10: What were the names of Jesus’ mum and dad? (Answer: Mary and Joseph)
   - Question 11: What was the name of the town that Mary and Joseph travelled to? (Answer: Bethlehem)
   - Question 12: Why did they have to travel to Bethlehem? (Answer: Caesar had ordered people to return to their home town for a census)
   - Question 13: Where did Mary and Joseph end up staying? (Answer: in a stable)
   - Question 14: When their baby was born, what did Mary do with him? (Answer: wrapped him in strips of cloth and placed him in a manger)
   - Question 15: Who went to visit Jesus after he had been born? (Answer: some shepherds and three wise men)
   - Question 16: How did the shepherds know that Jesus had been born? (Answer: some angels appeared to them)
   - Question 17: What did the wise men see that made them go to look for the new baby? (Answer: a new star in the sky)
   - Question 18: What presents did the wise men give to Jesus? (Answer: gold, frankincense and myrrh)
   - Question 19: In which book do we read the story of Jesus’ birth? (Answer: the Bible)
   - Question 20: Who designed the first Christmas card? (Answer: Henry Cole)
   - Question 21: Who were known as ‘robins’ in Victorian England because of their red uniforms? (Answer: postmen)
   - Question 22: In which pantomime does the character Wishee Washee appear? (Answer: Aladdin)
   - Question 23: In which country did tinsel originate? (Answer: Germany)
   - Question 24: Which Christmas carol contains the line ‘Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la’?! (Answer: ‘Deck the halls’)
   
   
3. Point out that some of the quiz questions related to secular aspects of Christmas, whereas others related to the religious aspect.
   
   Sometimes, it can seem that the origins and real meaning of Christmas have been lost in the commercialism.
   
   We all have different views as to the real meaning of Christmas, but it only has one origin: it began with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.

Time for reflection

Ask the students the following questions.

- What is the most important aspect of Christmas to you?
- How can we make Christmas better for other people?
- Have you ever really thought about how Christmas began and what it can teach us?

Prayer
Dear God,
Help us to spend time this Christmas considering the things that really matter.
Help us to remember that it all began with the birth of a baby who would go on to change the world.
Amen.

Song/music

Any Christmas song.