A Revenge of the Llamas Quiz : Festivals

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Several English towns hold Michaelmas fairs named after which bird that used to be a staple part of the English diet?

Answer: Goose

The history of goose fairs dates back to the Middle Ages. Geese were reared in large flocks and then driven to market. The most famous of these is the one held each year in Nottingham. My favourite (because I used to live there) is the one based upon Tavistock in Devon.

2. The county fair in the United States has a long history as a place for the local farmers to gather and celebrate their harvest. Over time it has evolved into part carnival, part agricultural competition, and part extravaganza. Which two counties host the largest county fairs in the United States?

Answer: Los Angeles County, CA (Los Angeles) and Erie County, NY (Buffalo)

The Los Angeles County Fair is America's largest, lasts 18 days and draws over 1.5m visitors. The Erie County Fair is also known as 'America's Fair' and dates back to 1819. It takes place at Hamburg, NY and thereby the residents claim it to be the birthplace of the hamburger. Question supplied by llama maninmidohio.

3. In the city of Gdansk, Poland, in August every year, a three week festival and fair takes place with attendances as large as 150,000 people per day. Which saint gives his name to this festival?

Answer: St. Dominic

The fair has medieval origins having been established in 1260 by Pope Alexander IV through a papal bull. Today it is a 23 day cultural, musical and sporting extravanganza much enjoyed by our Polish llama, sierot.

4. The tiny town of Clark, South Dakota is in an area of potato farming. Accordingly, the town holds a "Potato Days Festival" every year. Which of the following is an activity to be found at the "Potato Days Festival"?

Answer: All of these

Llama deputygary reports that the potato sculpture contest involves making a sculpture that looks like a potato and that the mashed potato wrestling involves contestants wrestling against a big pile of mashed potatoes but he's only joking.

The sculpture could be of anything. It does, however, have to be made out of potatoes. Mashed potato wrestling involves two people (four if it's a tag team contest) wrestling in a pit filled with mashed potatoes (no gravy).

5. Now practiced worldwide, the Gumboot (rubber boot) Throwing Championship originated in New Zealand. Which town can lay claim to having pioneered this peculiar competition?

Answer: Taihape

One of our antipodean llamas, Exit10, reports that, with the decline of rural activity in the area, the small town of Taihape needed to come up with something to maintain its livelihood. In 1985, the idea of the Gumboot Festival was adopted with the throwing competition and prizes for the best decorated gumboot etc.

Despite the name, Wellington (aka gumboot) is not the rubber boot capital of the world.

6. El Reno, Oklahoma is a town located on the nostalgic Route 66 highway. Every year in May, El Reno hosts a festival honoring a food item by cooking an 850 pound what?

Answer: Fried onion burger

This is only a relatively recent festival having started in 1989 although the history of fried onion burgers in El Reno does date back a century. The huge burger is cooked over a fire pit. Llama KatRen reports that she has attended several times and has actually tasted the burger.

7. What is the main activity at the annual festival held every May at Coopers Bank, Gloucestershire, England?

Answer: Cheese rolling

The cheese rolling takes place on an absurdly steep slope. The idea is very simple. A round of cheese is released at the top of the hill and can reach speeds of over 70mph as it hurtles down. Contestants follow in its wake and the first contestant to reach the bottom wins the cheese. Minor injuries are common and the 2005 event was delayed to enable the fleet of ambulances to return from delivering casualties to hospital!

8. The Cork City Jazz festival, held every year in the last week of October, is devoted to which type of music?

Answer: Jazz music (naturally)

This is Ireland's largest jazz event and is said to be Europe's friendliest jazz festival. First held in 1978, the festival has featured many of the giants of the jazz world including Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie.

It is also a favourite haunt of one of our Irish llamas, Karazzy.

9. The tiny town of Sonkajarvi, Finland holds an annual "akankanto" festival and championship. The festival involves a 250 meter obstacle course with men carrying something special on their backs. What do the men carry as they negotiate the course?

Answer: A wife

Llama deputygary informs us that the wife-carrying festival started centuries ago when the leader of a band of thieves would test prospective members by having them carry a load over a course. He wanted to know if they were any good at making a getaway while carrying loot. Being swashbuckling thieves, they thought that maidens from the neighboring villages would make a good and fun load to carry.

It has evolved into today's "akankato" (wife-carrying) festival and World Wife-Carrying Championship. There are rules. The "wife" must weigh at least 49 kilograms or she will have to wear a pack with enough weight to bring the load up to 49 kilograms. The "wife" does not have to be the wife of the man she rides. In fact, Margo Uusorg of Estonia has won every competition since 2000 carrying three different "wives." There is a 15 second penalty for dropping the "wife." This is, of course, irrespective of any "penalty" the wife may levy for being dropped. The winner of the Championship receives his "wife's" weight in beer, which brings into play an interesting strategy. Do you find a minimum weight "wife" for a better chance of winning or do you gamble and find a somewhat more than minimum weight "wife" for a chance of winning more beer?

Dennis Rodman has never been a "wife" but he has competed in the Championship.

10. The annual festival of St. Vincent takes place in the Spanish town of Manganeses de la Polvorosa. Which animal was dropped from the top of a tower as part of the 'celebrations', until it was stopped in 2000 due to world attention and lobbying from animal rights groups?

Answer: A goat

It's a reminder that tradition mustn't be used to justify what would otherwise be strange and cruel actions. The goat was dropped from the top of a bell tower and was caught in a sheet held by revellers 50 feet below.

No goats or llamas were hurt in the creation of this quiz, but if you score badly you may feel differently about the following members of the "Revenge of the Llamas" team who supplied the questions: maninmidohio, deputygary, KatRen, Exit10, Karazzy and sierot! Also thanks to deputygary whose fantastic idea this was. And finally, thanks to all the other wonderful members of "Revenge of the Llamas"!

Source: Author glendathecat

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Exit10 before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Let our llama guides escort you into the wonderful world of wacky (and not so wacky) festivals from around the globe. Sit back, enjoy the ride and learn a few things along the way.

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