From Christmas to New Year Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa was created by American activist, Maulana Karenga, in 1966 as an annual celebration for the African-American community. The festival incorporates elements of traditions from various parts of Africa. The festival begins on the 26th of December and lasts till the 1st of January. The aim behind its creation was to give the African-American community an alternate celebration to Christmas. The name Kwanzaa is derived from the Swahili language and means 'first fruits'. The festival culminates with a communal feast known as Koramu.

Purim, Diwali, and Ramadaan are festivals associated with the Jewish, Hindu, and Islamic faiths respectively and have been celebrated for over hundreds of years.

Answer: Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or the Soviet Union, was formed in 1922 after the Bolshevik Revolution overthrew the Russian monarchy. While it was established as a union of several Soviet republics, power was centralized in Russia. After World War II, the USA and the Soviet Union emerged as the two dominant global superpowers. From the 1950's until the dissolution of the USSR, the two countries were engaged in a Cold War, with various countries across the globe falling into either of the two camps.

The USSR began to disintegrate in the late 1980's with many of the constituent republics seeking greater autonomy. The Baltic States of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania were the first to secede in September 1991. With a growing clamour for independence from other regions, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union ultimately formally dissolved the Union on the 26th of December 1991.

Answer: Pakistan

Benazir Bhutto was the daughter of former Pakistani Prime Minister, Zulfikar Bhutto. When she herself was elected Prime Minister of the country in 1988, she became not only Pakistan's first female Head of State, but also the first woman to head a democracy in an Islamic country.

She had two separate stints as Pakistan's Prime Minister, the first from 1988 to 1990 and later from 1993 to 1996. In 1998, she moved to Dubai when her party lost the national elections but returned in 2007 to contest the 2008 elections.

It was on this campaign trail that she was tragically assassinated in Rawalpindi.

Answer: Indonesia

The islands that constitute present day Indonesia were of interest to the European explorers of the 15-16th century due to the abundance of spices produced here. Whilst the Portuguese were the first Europeans to set foot on the islands, it was the Dutch who eventually assumed control and ruled the region for over three centuries.

Indonesia was part of the Dutch East Indies. The local independence movement began in the early 20th century and culminated in Indonesia declaring its independence on the 17th of August, 1945.

This marked the start of a four year armed revolution against the Dutch. In the end, the Netherlands formally recognized Indonesia as an independent country on the 27th of December, 1949.

Answer: John C. Calhoun

John Caldwell Calhoun served as the Vice President of the United States of America from 4th March 1825 to 28th December 1832 under two different presidents, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Prior to that, he also served as the Secretary of War under President James Monroe.

He resigned from the position of Vice President before completing his second term, choosing instead to represent his state of South Carolina in the Senate.

Answer: X-rays

Wilhelm Röntgen was a German engineer and physicist. He is best known for detecting electromagnetic radiation that is now commonly known as x-rays. One of the first x-rays taken by him was of his wife's hand. He published a paper on the 28th of December, 1895 detailing his discovery. Röntgen was awarded the very first Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on x-rays. Among things named after him are a radioactive element (roentgenium) and a unit of measurement (roentgen).

Answer: Canterbury Cathedral

Thomas Becket was the Archbishop of Canterbury. Initially Becket and King Henry II were said to be close friends. However, Becket began to object to some of the King's decisions which he felt were eroding the authority of the church. Becket was charged with treason and went into exile in France for six years.

He returned to England in 1170 after the Pope threatened to excommunicate the King if Becket was not allowed to resume his role as Archbishop of Canterbury. The two continued to have differences and on the 29th of December, 1170, knights close to the King entered the cathedral and murdered Thomas Becket assuming this was the wish of the King.

Answer: Republic of Texas

The Republic of Texas was an independent state for a period of almost ten years after declaring itself independent from Mexico. Apart from the current US state of Texas, the republic covered parts of what eventually became the states of New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas. Texas had originally applied to join the United States of America the same year that it declared independence from Mexico.

However, the application was not accepted by the US. It was almost ten years before the US approved a bill for the annexation of Texas that was accepted by the republic making it the 28th state to join the US.

Answer: Philippines

José Rizal is considered a national hero in the Philippines. Rizal was an ophthalmologist but ended up joining the political movement advocating for reforms for the Philippines as a Spanish colony. He wrote a number of poems and essays and the novel "Noli Me Tángere.

His works inspired the people of the Philippines to rebel against the Spanish in a movement that later came to be known as the Philippine Revolution. The Spanish colonial government charged Rizal for inciting the rebellion and had him executed on the 30th of December, 1896. Rizal Day was instituted two years later and is now a national holiday in the Philippines.

Answer: Tokyo

Tokyo's subway line was built by Japanese businessman, Noritsugu Hayakawa, drawing inspiration from the London Underground. The Tokyo Underground Railway was founded in 1920 with an aim to construct a subway system in the city. Construction began in 1925 after sufficient funds were raised and the line was completed on the 30th of December, 1927.

The line was named the Ginza Line after the commercial district of the same name under which the subway was constructed.