’Tis the Season
Caribbean Food or Geography
Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader
Caribbean Words & Phrases
Looking Ahead... to the New Year!
100

This fairy tale is credited with inspiring the first gingerbread houses.

What is Hansel and Gretel?


100

Often served with chutney at festivals and street stalls, this Trinidadian snack traces its roots to 19th-century Indian indentured laborers. 

What is Pholourie?


100

The city now known as New York once went by this name, reflecting its Dutch colonial roots.


What is New Amsterdam?


100

This saying means that appearances can be deceiving, it reminds people that smiles don’t always indicate goodwill.

What is “All skin teeth eh laugh”?


100

In Spain, eating 12 of these are said to bring you good luck in the New Year.

Grapes

200

This is the number of reindeer traditionally said to guide Santa’s sleigh.

What is nine? 

(Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph)


200

By land area, this island ranks as the largest in the Caribbean.

What is Cuba?


200

This U.S. state has the most volcanoes.

What is Alaska?


200

In Barbados, hearing this phrase could mean someone feels sorry for you—or is just really surprised, depending on how it’s said.

What is “Cuh dear!”?


200

In Denmark, it is customary to break these on friends’ doorsteps at New Year to bring luck.

What are plates?


300

Native to Mexico, this red-and-green plant has become a popular symbol of Christmas decorations.

What is a Poinsettia?


300

This candy is made by rolling this fruit pulp with sugar and spices into little balls.

What are Tamarind balls?


300

A riddle for you... It has cities but no houses, mountains but no trees, and water but no fish.

What is a Map?



300

Used in Trinidadian slang, this term captures the heartache of unrequited love or longing for someone dearly missed.

What is Tabanca?


300

This “lucky” legume is often served on New Year’s Day in the American South to ensure a prosperous year.

What are black-eyed peas?


400

Medieval Europeans believed hanging this Christmas decoration upside down symbolized the Holy Trinity and could bring good fortune.

What is a Christmas tree?


400

Located just north of Grenada, this submarine volcano is one of the most active in the Caribbean Sea.

What is Kick ’em Jenny?


400

This is the only letter of the English alphabet that does not appear in any element symbol on the periodic table.

What is J?

400

This saying comparing a goat enjoying tasty food to later digestive trouble, this proverb cautions that pleasures can have hidden consequences.

What is “What sweet in goat mouth, sour in the bam bam”?


400

What color is supposed to bring you luck in the new year if you eat it?

What is green

500

In this country, eating KFC has become a popular Christmas dinner tradition.

What is Japan?

In 1970, Christmas wasn’t widely celebrated in Japan, and there were no traditional holiday meals, leaving a cultural void. Takeshi Okawara, a KFC manager, noticed foreign tourists struggling to find turkey and experimented with marketing fried chicken as a Western-style Christmas feast called “Party Barrels.” Leveraging post-WWII Japan’s fascination with Western culture, he positioned KFC as a modern, aspirational way to celebrate, and by 1974 the nationwide campaign “Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii” (“Kentucky for Christmas”) cemented the idea. By inventing an entire Christmas dinner tradition around fried chicken, KFC filled a cultural vacuum, and today 3.6 million Japanese families celebrate Christmas with KFC, often pre-ordering weeks in advance and waiting in long lines for their festive meal.

500

Pom, a beloved national casserole featuring layers of seasoned chicken (or salted meat) and a citrus-spiced grated taro root topping, is considered a signature dish of this culturally Caribbean country.

What is Pom?

500

On a standard U.S. map, this state is the only one that touches the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.

What is Florida


500

“If you’ve never been exposed to struggle, you won’t know hardship”—this Jamaican proverb uses a river-bottom rock to make the point.

What is "Rockstone a riva battam nuh know sun hot" or "Rockstone in a river bottom do not know the sun is hot".


500

This island nation officially welcomes the New Year (January 1st) before any other major country.

What is New Zealand?


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