History
•The very traditional Christmas greeting ‘Merry Christmas’ quite unexpectedly became the first ever ………… ……………………. on December 3d, 1992.
•Fill in the two missing words
Text message
•The first thousand of these appeared on shelves in 1843, and because they cost just a penny a piece, they sold like hotcakes and a new custom was born.
• What are they?
Christmas cards
You need to whip something and add milk, cream and sugar to get ...
The Beatles were the first band to have a run of three consecutive Christmas No1 hits. As of now, only one other band have managed to repeat this feat in the 90s - which one?
Bonus 100 points - give the three years when they did it (+/- 1 year).
Bonus 100 points - give the name of at least one of the three songs.
Spice Girls; 1996-1998; 2 Become 1/Too Much/Goodbye
•A New York Cop saves a Christmas Party from a group of robbers pretending to be terrorists.
•Bonus question + 100 points: the year of release (+/- 2 years)
Die Hard; 1988
Christmas was first officially celebrated in Rome on December 25th in ______________ (which year? +/-25 years)
336
•An old Christmas tradition signals to people passing by that the residents of a house are Christian. The tradition has become quite secular since then.
•What is the tradition?
Putting candles in windows.
•Which Christmas dish is often made in the UK 4-5 weeks before Christmas?
•Bonus 200 points: how much money used to be traditionally put in it?
•Christmas (plum) pudding;
•a six-pence.
Only one song by the same artist has managed to reach the UK Christmas number one twice, in 1975 and 1991. Later, in December 2018, it became the most streamed song from the 20th century.
Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
The story involves a group of husbands and fathers who go on their annual winter retreat in a mountain cottage – and are saddled with bringing along the kids. Child neglect has never been so funny.
S tebou mě baví svět
(1982)
Only two of the officially recognised four actually tell the Christmas story. What are we talking about?
Bonus question 200 points - name the two.
New Testament; Matthew and Luke
__________________(300 points) exports most Christmas trees in the world. In 2017 it exported _____________ (bonus, 200 points; +/- 500 000)
Canada; 2,270,627
A common folkloric story says that in 1670, in Cologne, Germany, the choirmaster wishing to remedy the noise caused by children in his church asked a local confectioner to make a sweet for them which would help children remember the shepherds who visited the infant Jesus. Name the sweet (usually American name)
Candy cane
This song, written by an American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton as a farewell to her former partner in 1973, became the only Christmas number one so far to have stayed 10 weeks at the top of the charts in 1992 (a cover version). It also became the most successful song of that year and featured in a film where the singer played the lead role.
Bonus +100 points - name the film.
I Will Always Love You
The Bodyguard
Man has serious life-crisis when he discovers Christmas is pretty awesome but some of his friends aren’t convinced and Santa gets into some bother as a result.
•Bonus question + 100 points: the year of release (+/- 2 years)
A Nightmare Before Christmas
•1993
First Christians created a holy site in this town 10 km south of Jerusalem.Later it was destroyed by Emperor Hadrian during the 2nd century; its rebuilding was promoted by Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, who commissioned the building of its great ______________ in 327 CE. What is the town?
•Bonus 200 points – The constructioin of what started in year 327 there?
•Bethlehem;
•The Church of Nativity
The Swedish town of Gävle has erected a giant version of the Yule ___________, (300 points) which is typically made almost entirely of straw, since 1966. And every year since, people have tried to __________ (100 points) the apparently rather expensive symbol of Christmas joy. At least 28 of the 45 attempts have been successful. What animal does the statue represent?
Goat; burn
•What should be eaten on each of the 12 days of Christmas to ensure good luck for the year ahead?
Mince pies
This is a protest song by American rock band released as the lead single from the album in November 1992. It has been noted for its distinctive guitar riffs and for the line "Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses." In 2009, it became the Christmas number one; this was due to a campaign to prevent a certain TV show winner's song from gaining the Christmas number one in the United Kingdom for a fifth successive year.
Bonus +200 points - name the TV show the campaing was lead against.
Killing In Thy Name by Rage Against The Machines; The X Factor.
A banker on the verge of committing suicide after being trapped by an unscrupulous competitor is visited by an angel who shows him the true importance of his life.
Bonus +100 point - the year of the release (+/- 4 years)
It's A Wonderful Life
1946
•A very important church figure, known for his love of nature, arranged for the first Christmas live nativity scene and also encouraged using music in Christmas services.
•What is his name?
• Bonus 200 points: which century was he active in?
•Francis of Assisi;
•13th century
_____________Christmas trees were first created in Germany in the 1880s or 1890s and are regarded as one of the first types of artificial Christmas trees. These first artificial trees were, in part, a response to growing environmental concerns in the late 19th century concerning deforestation associated with the harvest of Christmas trees in Germany. What were they made of?
Goose feathers
A story about a brother and sister abandoned in a forest, where they fall into the hands of a cannibalistic witch who lives in a house made of a particular kind of sweet. The witch intends to fatten the children before eventually eating them, but the sister outwits the witch and kills her. Name the story (300 points) and the sweet (200 points), edible houses made of which are still very popular aound Christmastime.
Hansel and Gretel; gingerbread.
LadBaby is a British graphic designer, lifestyle blogger, and YouTuber produces video content focused on his experiences as a father, and is filmed with his wife, Roxanne. The couple had the Christmas number one on the UK Singles Chart in 2018 and 2019 with the novelty/parody songs, writing alternative lyrics to well-known hits by Starship (We Built this City on _____________ rolls!) and Joan Jett "glorifying" a kind of junk food. Name the kind of junk food the new lyrics are about.
Bonus +100 points (each) - name the original Joan Jett hit LadBaby and his wife parodied.
Sausage Rolls;
I Love Rock'n'Roll
The story is actually named after a toy soldier which becomes unusually active on Christmas Eve.
Bonus point + 100; Give the surname of the author of the original story, which was adapted in different forms many times in the last almost 200 years.
The Nutcracker; Hoffman