New Year: 10 questions

1. Which animals are all considered to have a birthday on 1 January in the Northern hemisphere, regardless of when they were actually born?
2. On New Year’s Day 1945, which Japanese Emperor broadcast a radio address to the people declaring that he was not divine?
3. What fruit do Spaniards traditionally attempt to stuff in their mouth while the New Year chimes in?
4. In which city do the Australian national cricket team traditionally start a test match on New Year’s Day (though it may also start on January 2 or 3)
5. Vienna holds an annual New Year’s Day concert of classical music every year. Works by which family of composers who lived in Vienna are the main focus of this concert?
6. What is the name of the Jewish New Year festival, generally celebrated in September or October?
7. Where in New York is a 5,000-kilogram, 3.7 metre diameter ball lowered down a pole in the last minute of every year?
8. The Euro was introduced on New Year’s Day in which year?
9. In Japan, temples of which religion ring a bell 108 times to symbolize all the sins and vices of man?
10. Greek restaurants are famous for smashing plates after a meal, but in which European country is the deliberate destruction of crockery on the doorsteps of friends and family a New Year’s tradition?

Answers below (scroll down)

1. Which animals are all considered to have a birthday on 1 January in the Northern hemisphere, regardless of when they were actually born?
   A: Horses

2. On New Year’s Day 1945, which Japanese Emperor broadcast a radio address to the people declaring that he was not divine?
   A: Hirohito
3. What fruit do Spaniards traditionally attempt to stuff in their mouth while the New Year chimes in?
   A: Grapes
4. In which city do the Australian national cricket team traditionally start a test match on New Year’s Day (though it may also start on January 2 or 3)
   A: Sydney
5. Vienna holds an annual New Year’s Day concert of classical music every year. Works by which family of composers who lived in Vienna are the main focus of this concert?
   A: The Strauss family
6. What is the name of the Jewish New Year festival, generally celebrated in September or October?
   A: Rosh Hashanah
7. Where in New York is a 5,000-kilogram, 3.7 metre diameter ball lowered down a pole in the last minute of every year?
   A: Times Square
8. The Euro was introduced on New Year’s Day in which year?
   A: 1999
9. In Japan, temples of which religion ring a bell 108 times to symbolize all the sins and vices of man?
   A: Buddhism
10. Greek restaurants are famous for smashing plates after a meal, but in which European country is the deliberate destruction of crockery on the doorsteps of friends and family a New Year’s tradition?
    A: Denmark

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