Thanksgiving is not one worldwide holiday wearing different hats. These 120 questions explore national Thanksgivings, harvest festivals, sacred observances, family foods, and the histories that make each tradition its own, and I brought curiosity; you may want snacks.
Keep traveling with our Thanksgiving trivia, world festivals trivia, and food trivia.
Thanksgiving Traditions in the United States and Canada
North American Thanksgiving looks familiar until you inspect the calendar, the history, and the regional plates. I learned quickly that one continent can produce two holiday dates and at least twelve firm opinions about stuffing.
Q: When is Thanksgiving celebrated in the United States?
A: It falls on the fourth Thursday of November.
Q: Which president proclaimed a national Thanksgiving observance in 1863?
A: Abraham Lincoln.
Q: What date did Lincoln choose for the 1863 national observance?
A: The last Thursday of November.
Q: Which president moved Thanksgiving one week earlier in 1939?
A: Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Q: Why did Roosevelt move the holiday in 1939?
A: He hoped a longer Christmas shopping season would help the economy.
Q: When did Congress establish the fourth Thursday of November as the federal Thanksgiving date?
A: 1941.
Q: Where did the famous 1621 harvest gathering take place?
A: Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts.
Q: Which Indigenous people joined the English colonists at the 1621 gathering?
A: The Wampanoag.
Q: How long did the 1621 harvest gathering last?
A: Three days.
Q: What name was not used by participants for the 1621 gathering?
A: They did not call it the First Thanksgiving.
Q: Which Wampanoag leader attended the 1621 gathering?
A: Ousamequin, also known to the English as Massasoit.
Q: What meat did Wampanoag hunters contribute to the 1621 meal?
A: Venison.
Q: What kind of birds did colonial accounts mention at the 1621 feast?
A: Wildfowl, which may have included ducks, geese, or turkey.
Q: Why was modern pumpkin pie unlikely at the 1621 meal?
A: The colonists lacked the ovens and ingredients needed for the familiar pie.
Q: Which annual observance in Plymouth presents an Indigenous perspective on the holiday?
A: The National Day of Mourning.
Q: When did the National Day of Mourning begin?
A: 1970.
Q: What centerpiece bird became standard on many American Thanksgiving tables?
A: Turkey.
Q: Which tart red fruit is commonly served as a sauce at Thanksgiving?
A: Cranberry.
Q: What bread-based side dish may be called dressing when cooked outside the bird?
A: Stuffing.
Q: What small bone do two people traditionally pull for good luck?
A: The wishbone.
Q: When is Thanksgiving celebrated in Canada?
A: It falls on the second Monday of October.
Q: Why does Canadian Thanksgiving arrive earlier than the American holiday?
A: Canada’s harvest season generally ends earlier because of its northern climate.
Q: When did Canada make Thanksgiving an annual national holiday?
A: 1879.
Q: When was Canada’s current second-Monday-in-October date formally set?
A: 1957.
Q: Which 1578 explorer held a ceremony often cited in Canadian Thanksgiving histories?
A: Martin Frobisher.
Q: Where did Frobisher’s 1578 ceremony take place?
A: In what is now Nunavut.
Q: What was Samuel de Champlain’s 1606 dining society called?
A: The Order of Good Cheer.
Q: What is Canadian Thanksgiving called in French?
A: Action de grâce.
Q: Which Canadian football league stages a Thanksgiving Day Classic?
A: The Canadian Football League.
Q: Which dessert appears on both Canadian and American Thanksgiving tables?
A: Pumpkin pie.
European Harvest Festivals and Days of Thanks
Europe offers church services, harvest crowns, bread, wine, and a few parades sturdy enough to survive autumn weather. The details vary by town, which is how traditions stay alive instead of becoming a matching set.
Q: What is Germany’s harvest thanksgiving festival called?
A: Erntedankfest.
Q: When is Erntedankfest commonly observed?
A: Many communities hold it in late September or early October.
Q: Where do many German Erntedank celebrations begin?
A: In churches decorated with harvested produce.
Q: What woven harvest symbol may appear in German celebrations?
A: An Erntekrone, or harvest crown.
Q: What does the German word Erntedank mean?
A: Harvest thanks.
Q: Which neighboring country also celebrates Erntedank with regional customs?
A: Austria.
Q: What is Britain’s church-centered autumn celebration commonly called?
A: Harvest Festival.
Q: When do many British churches hold Harvest Festival?
A: Near the harvest moon or during September and October.
Q: What do worshippers traditionally bring to British Harvest Festival services?
A: Food and produce for display or donation.
Q: Which hymn beginning with farming imagery is closely associated with British harvest services?
A: We Plough the Fields and Scatter.
Q: What phrase once described the communal meal at the end of the British harvest?
A: Harvest home.
Q: What English festival on August 1 traditionally marked the first wheat harvest?
A: Lammas.
Q: What does the name Lammas come from?
A: Loaf Mass.
Q: What food was traditionally blessed at Lammas?
A: A loaf made from the new grain.
Q: Which Swiss observance combines thanksgiving, repentance, and prayer?
A: The Federal Day of Thanksgiving, Repentance, and Prayer.
Q: When is the Swiss federal day generally observed?
A: On the third Sunday in September.
Q: Which Dutch city hosts an American Thanksgiving service connected to the Pilgrims?
A: Leiden.
Q: Where is Leiden’s Thanksgiving service traditionally held?
A: Pieterskerk.
Q: Why is Leiden connected to the Pilgrim story?
A: Many Pilgrims lived there before sailing to North America.
Q: What is Poland’s traditional harvest festival called?
A: Dożynki.
Q: What object do Polish harvest groups often weave from grain?
A: An elaborate harvest wreath.
Q: What staple is ceremonially presented at many Dożynki celebrations?
A: Bread made from the new grain.
Q: What does a Dożynki festival honor?
A: The harvest and the people who produced it.
Q: Which Hungarian word refers to the grape harvest?
A: Szüret.
Q: What often accompanies Hungarian grape-harvest celebrations?
A: Parades, folk dress, music, and dancing.
Q: Which Jewish festival has ancient harvest associations and centers on temporary shelters?
A: Sukkot.
Q: What is the temporary shelter built for Sukkot called?
A: A sukkah.
Q: How long is Sukkot observed in Israel?
A: Seven days.
Q: What plant bundle is waved with an etrog during Sukkot?
A: The lulav, made from palm, myrtle, and willow branches.
Q: Why is Sukkot better described on its own terms than as Jewish Thanksgiving?
A: It is a distinct religious festival with biblical commandments and traditions.
Asian Harvest and Gratitude Celebrations
Across Asia, thanks may be expressed with mooncakes, rice cakes, flower carpets, cattle decorations, or a pot deliberately allowed to boil over. I respect any celebration where making a mess can officially mean abundance.
Q: What Japanese public holiday is observed on November 23?
A: Labor Thanksgiving Day, or Kinrō Kansha no Hi.
Q: When was Japan’s modern Labor Thanksgiving Day established?
A: 1948.
Q: What does Japan’s Labor Thanksgiving Day recognize?
A: Labor, production, and mutual gratitude.
Q: Which imperial harvest rite preceded Japan’s modern holiday?
A: Niinamesai.
Q: What Korean harvest holiday falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month?
A: Chuseok.
Q: What crescent-shaped rice cake is made for Chuseok?
A: Songpyeon.
Q: What does seongmyo involve during Chuseok?
A: Visiting and tending family graves.
Q: What is charye in a Chuseok setting?
A: A family ancestral memorial rite with prepared foods.
Q: Which circle dance is associated with Chuseok?
A: Ganggangsullae.
Q: How long is South Korea’s official Chuseok holiday period?
A: Three days, including the day before and after Chuseok.
Q: Which Chinese festival shares Chuseok’s lunar-calendar date?
A: The Mid-Autumn Festival.
Q: What pastry is closely associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival?
A: Mooncakes.
Q: What celestial object is admired during Mid-Autumn celebrations?
A: The full moon.
Q: What family theme sits at the heart of the Mid-Autumn Festival?
A: Reunion.
Q: What is Vietnam’s Mid-Autumn Festival called?
A: Tết Trung Thu.
Q: Who receive special attention during Vietnam’s Tết Trung Thu?
A: Children.
Q: What lively performance often appears during Tết Trung Thu?
A: Lion dancing.
Q: Which Tamil harvest festival is celebrated in January?
A: Pongal.
Q: What food gives Pongal its name?
A: A rice dish cooked with milk.
Q: What does milk boiling over symbolize during Pongal?
A: Abundance and prosperity.
Q: Which day of Pongal honors cattle?
A: Mattu Pongal.
Q: Which Hindu solar deity is honored on Surya Pongal?
A: Surya, the sun god.
Q: What Kerala festival welcomes the legendary King Mahabali?
A: Onam.
Q: What is an Onam flower carpet called?
A: A pookalam.
Q: What is the multi-dish vegetarian Onam feast called?
A: Onam sadya.
Q: Which type of leaf traditionally holds an Onam sadya?
A: A banana leaf.
Q: Which boat spectacle is associated with Onam?
A: Snake boat races.
Q: What harvest festival decorates Lucban homes with colorful rice wafers?
A: The Pahiyas Festival in the Philippines.
Q: What are the leaf-shaped rice decorations used at Pahiyas called?
A: Kiping.
Q: Which patron saint of farmers is honored at Pahiyas?
A: Saint Isidore the Laborer, known locally as San Isidro Labrador.
Harvest Traditions in Africa, the Pacific, and the Americas
The last round travels widely, but it keeps the labels honest. Some entries are national Thanksgivings, while others are local harvest, first-fruits, or remembrance traditions with their own histories and no need for a borrowed identity.
Q: What Ghanaian festival commemorates the Ga people’s victory over hunger?
A: Homowo.
Q: What does the name Homowo mean?
A: Hooting at hunger.
Q: Which Ghanaian city is the center of many Homowo celebrations?
A: Accra.
Q: What cornmeal-based food is prepared for Homowo?
A: Kpokpoi, also called kpekple.
Q: What ritual is performed with kpokpoi during Homowo?
A: It is sprinkled in designated places as part of the celebration.
Q: What Igbo celebration marks the beginning of the yam harvest?
A: The New Yam Festival.
Q: What names may be used for the Igbo New Yam Festival?
A: Iri Ji or Iwa Ji.
Q: Which crop is celebrated as a symbol of work and prosperity at Iri Ji?
A: Yam.
Q: What traditional rule surrounds the first new yams?
A: The ceremonial first yam is eaten before the new crop is generally consumed.
Q: What does Eswatini’s Incwala ceremony celebrate?
A: Kingship, renewal, and the first fruits of the season.
Q: Why should Incwala not be treated as a tourist version of Thanksgiving?
A: It is a sacred national ritual with specific royal and cultural meaning.
Q: What Barbados festival grew from the end of the sugarcane harvest?
A: Crop Over.
Q: What major parade closes the modern Crop Over season?
A: Grand Kadooment.
Q: Which crop gave Barbados’s Crop Over its original purpose?
A: Sugarcane.
Q: When is Liberia’s national Thanksgiving observed?
A: On the first Thursday in November.
Q: Which historical community helped establish Liberia’s Thanksgiving custom?
A: Americo-Liberian settlers from the United States.
Q: Where do many Liberian Thanksgiving observances include special services?
A: In churches.
Q: When is Grenada’s Thanksgiving Day observed?
A: October 25.
Q: What does Grenada’s Thanksgiving Day commemorate?
A: The events surrounding the 1983 U.S.-led intervention and restoration of constitutional government.
Q: Why is Grenada’s Thanksgiving different from a harvest Thanksgiving?
A: Its origin is political commemoration rather than the agricultural calendar.
Q: When does Norfolk Island celebrate Thanksgiving?
A: On the last Wednesday of November.
Q: Who influenced Norfolk Island’s Thanksgiving tradition?
A: American whalers who visited the island in the 19th century.
Q: How are Norfolk Island churches traditionally decorated for Thanksgiving?
A: With fruit, vegetables, flowers, and other produce.
Q: When is Brazil’s Dia de Ação de Graças placed on the calendar?
A: On the fourth Thursday of November.
Q: When did Brazil establish its national Thanksgiving date?
A: 1949.
Q: How widely is Brazilian Thanksgiving celebrated?
A: It remains far less widespread than major Brazilian national and religious holidays.
Q: What Hawaiian season traditionally honored Lono and included harvest, rest, and games?
A: Makahiki.
Q: When did the Makahiki season traditionally begin?
A: It began after observations of the Pleiades signaled the season, usually around November.
Q: What famous Mendoza festival celebrates Argentina’s grape harvest?
A: The National Grape Harvest Festival, or Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia.
Q: Which principle keeps worldwide Thanksgiving trivia accurate?
A: Each community’s tradition should be named and understood in its own cultural context.
How Did You Score?
If you remembered Ousamequin, Erntekrone, songpyeon, Homowo, and Norfolk Island’s whaling connection, your passport deserves a stamp. Mine has a cranberry-sauce fingerprint, which feels appropriate after 120 questions.
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