It's a Jolly Holiday in November! Quiz

Answer: World Kindness Day

The World Kindness Movement (WKM) coalesced in 1997 out of multiple national Kindness Movement organizations and the following year created World Kindness Day, held every two years at a different host country. "The purpose of World Kindness Day", according to the WKM website, "is to highlight good deeds in the community, focusing on the positive power and the common thread of kindness that binds us."

World Kindness Day is observed from Canada to Japan to Nigeria to the United Arab Emirates to Australia. The WKM website encourages everyone to be a kindness ambassador or "RAKtivist" (Random Acts of Kindness activist), for "RAKtivists are the heroes of our generation".

Answer: Easter

All Saints' Day is November 1, and for some Christians (especially Catholics) it is followed by All Souls' Day on November 2.

In Portugal, 'Dia de Todos os Santos' is a national holiday. There is a door-to-door tradition called 'Pão-por-Deus' (or santorinho, bolinho or fiéis de Deus), whereby children receive cakes, nuts, pomegranates, and the like. They also collect "food for the dead" in remembrance of the devastating Lisbon earthquake of 1755. In Spain, 'Día de Todos los Santos' is a national holiday as well, during which the play 'Don Juan Tenorio' has been traditionally performed each year almost since its debut in 1844. In both these countries, and in several other countries (Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Chile, France, Hungary, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malta, etc.) and the U.S. state of Louisiana, putting flowers on the graves of deceased relatives is customary. (The New Orleans Saints were named for the prominence of All Saints' Day in Louisiana.) In some German states and in Sweden, Slovakia, and other European countries, putting candles on graves is common where there are sizable Roman Catholic populations.

Answer: Día de Muertos

Día de Muertos means "day of the dead". Families build 'ofrendas' (private shrines) decorated with pumpkins and pan de muerto (bread of the dead), and frequently, crosses and icons of the Virgin Mary to honor their departed loved ones, who may also be in photos on these shrines. Many make 'calaveras', which are representations of the human skull, often made of sugar and edible. Celebrants leave as gifts the calaveras, bottles of tequila (or toys as appropriate) on graves, which they also clean and decorate with cémpasuchil flowers (Aztec marigolds). Día de Muertos originated in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican observances, especially an Aztec festival of the goddess Mictēcacihuātl, Queen of the Underworld (Mictlān). In northern Mexico, however, the day was not celebrated until the 20th century because the indigenous inhabitants had differing traditions.

Día de Muertos is sometimes (incorrectly) referred to as Día de los Muertos (backformed from the English, in which the article is necessary).

Answer: Guy Fawkes Day

In 1605, Guy Fawkes, Robert Catesby and other English Catholics conspired to blow up the House of Lords in what is known as the Gunpowder Plot. The Plot was discovered before it could be carried out, however, and the conspirators were executed. It's also called Guy Fawkes Night, Bonfire Night, and Firework Night. In the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, Parliament passed the Observance of 5th November Act 1605, also called the "Thanksgiving Act", which required pastors on the 5th of November to publicly in church give thanks that the Plot was foiled. This was repealed in 1859. The day is still commemorated, however, with bonfires, fireworks, the ringing of church bells, and the burning of Guy Fawkes in effigy. In 2005, ITV broadcast the special "The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding the Legend" in which a full-scale replica of the House of Lords was constructed and then utterly demolished by the same number barrels of gunpowder as was to be used 1605. The demonstration showed that no one would have survived, and that the explosion would have shattered all the windows in Westminster Abbey and would have been seen for miles.

St. George's Day is 23 April. Oak Apple Day commemorates the Restoration of the Monarchy and is observed on 29 May. Boxing Day is 26 December.

Answer: San Francisco

On November 18, 1976, the California Division of the American Cancer Society successfully prompted nearly one million smokers to quit for the day. That California event marked the first Smokeout. The following year, the Great American Smokeout took place in Union Square, San Francisco, on November 16. The Smokeout eventually became a nationwide annual event, celebrated with parades, rallies, and "cold turkey" menu items in restaurants and cafeterias.

American attitudes toward smoking changed quite a bit since the first Smokeout. Berkeley, California, became the first community to limit smoking in restaurants and other public places in 1977. In 1994, Mississippi filed the first of 24 state lawsuits to recover millions of dollars from tobacco companies for Medicaid-funded treatments smoking-related diseases. In 2017, eleven years after being ordered by the courts to do so, U.S. tobacco companies began publishing "corrective statements" in newspapers, and in 2018 they began making corrective public service announcements on radio and television.

A similar intervention event in the UK is "No Smoking Day", held on the second Wednesday in March. Then there's "World No Tobacco Day", held on May 31 and sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Answer: Armistice Day

Armistice Day commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany for the cessation of hostilities along the Western Front at the "11th hour of the 11th of the 11th month" of 1918. Armistice Day is a major national holiday in France. In 2018, around five dozen heads of state gathered at the Arc de Triomphe to mark the centennial of the Armistice. Also in 2018, it was sometimes misspoken in the press as "the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I", but the armistice lasted only 36 days. The war ended officially only with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles the following year, on 28 June.

The day was specifically dedicated by King George V on 7 November 1919 as a day of remembrance for members of the armed forces who were killed during World War. It was on 10 November of that year that a banquet was held to honor the President of the French Republic, and on the following morning (the 11th) the first Armistice Day ceremony was held on the grounds at Buckingham Palace.

In many places, people observed (and still observe today) two consecutive minutes of silence at 11 a.m. local time as a sign of respect in the first minute for the roughly 20 million people who died in the "Great War", and in the second minute dedicated to the living left behind. After the Second World War, many countries changed the name of the November 11 observance to Remembrance Day, including the UK and most of the Commonwealth of Nations. In the UK, Remembrance Sunday, which is the second Sunday in November, had eventually overtaken the November 11 observance. But then in 1995, on the fiftieth anniversary of the end of WWII, it became customary to celebrate both Remembrance Day (Nov. 11) and Remembrance Sunday.

In Australia and New Zealand, the ANZAC Day observance of April 25 -- originally commemorating the lives lost at the Gallipoli campaign against the Ottoman Empire in WWI -- overshadows Armistice Day. Denmark, Netherlands and Norway do not officially observe Armistice Day as they were neutral during World War I (but this does not preclude unofficial observance).

Answer: All U.S. veterans, living or dead (but especially the living)

In the USA, November 11 was recognized as Armistice Day in 1926 through an Act of Congress, but it didn't become a federal holiday until another Act of Congress in 1938. Since Armistice Day was viewed primarily as a day to in honor World War I veterans, in 1954 Congress passed a bill (signed by Eisenhower) replacing the word "Armistice" with "Veterans" to include World War II and Korean War veterans as well. The holiday was temporarily moved to the fourth Monday of October in 1971, but in 1978 it returned to November 11. Although federal employees take the Friday or Monday nearest off when November 11 falls on a weekend, the ceremony of the laying of the wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns takes place at Arlington Cemetery on November 11 regardless of the day of week.

Whereas Veterans Day is for all U.S. veterans, living or dead, but especially to thank the living veterans for their service, Memorial Day (last Monday in May) in America is dedicated to veterans who have died. Some Americans, such as the late author Kurt Vonnegut, have called for a return to Armistice Day and its emphasis on world peace and ways to promote it.

Answer: Goose

The Feast of St. Martin of Tours (A.D. 316-297) remains a popular but unofficial observance in parts of Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, and elsewhere. A Roman soldier named Martin, it is believed, saved a homeless person from freezing to death by giving him half of his cloak. In days of yore, St. Martin's Day was followed by a fast that lasted until Christmas, so many traditions are food-centered. The tradition of eating a goose (nowadays perhaps a duck) on Martinmas may also come from the fact that November 11 in the Middle Ages was "payday" in some places, and tax debt was paid with a goose. A flock of geese, it is said, betrayed Martin's hiding place from the people of Tours in modern-day France, who wanted to make the humble man a bishop (and they did).

'Martinstag' in Germany is especially popular with children. Many towns have lantern processions (Martinsumzüge or Laternenumzüge), led by an actor as the saint wearing Roman soldier's garb and riding a horse. St. Martin's Day also commemorates Christopher Columbus's 1493 landing at the island of Sint Maarten in the Caribbean and is a public holiday there.

Answer: Howard Carter

King Tut ascended to throne at the tender age of nine, and ruled for only nine years, 1333-1324 B.C. Murder or an innocent accident are two popular theories, but no one knows the cause of death for certain. Howard Carter (working for Lord Carnarvon) discovered the tomb, designated KV62, beneath the remains of workers' huts built during the Ramesside Period of 1189-1077 B.C. It had been spared the looting of other more prominent tombs and was a dazzling find, a literal treasure trove. It took eight years to remove the contents to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Celebrate the day by spending a little time with your nose in Egyptian history books! Or maybe sing Steve Martin's classic novelty song, "King Tut", written when the Boy King's bones and artifacts visited New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1970s. (Before the 1960s, most of these had never been exhibited outside of Egypt!)

Answer: Diwali or Deepavali

Diwali (or Dipavali or Deepavali or Divali), from the Sanskrit for "row of lights", is a five-day celebration during which a row of lights are lit to welcome Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, in India and many other Hindu countries. (In Bengal, however, the goddess Kali is the honoree.) It is one of the most popular festivals with many rituals that vary from region to region, but in most places there are feasts and elaborate home decoration and gift-giving. For many Hindus, Diwali is also New Year's Eve as it falls on the final days of the Vikram calendar (a lunisolar calendar followed by North Indians).

Diwali is also important to Sikhs, who light the Golden Temple of Amritsar to commemorate when the sixth Guru, Hargobind Singh, freed 52 falsely imprisoned Hindu princes. Buddhists do not celebrate Diwali, except for the Newar people of Nepal, who follow the pragmatic Mahayana Buddhist tradition of worshipping any deity for one's worldly betterment.

Answer: Franklin Roosevelt

George Washington fist proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving in 1789, then a second in 1795, following the defeat of the Whiskey Rebellion. Presidents John Adams, James Madison, and other Presidents also declared (one-off) days of Thanksgiving. Other presidents, such as Thomas Jefferson, opposed days of national thanksgiving. By 1855, sixteen states were celebrating Thanksgiving, two on the third Thursday of November, and the rest on the fourth. Not until 1863 did President Abraham Lincoln establish the regular tradition of observing a day of Thanksgiving nationwide on the last Thursday of November.

That is, until the Great Depression. In 1939, when November had five Thursdays, President Roosevelt proclaimed Thanksgiving for the fourth Thursday in November. At this time, advertising for Christmas in the USA before Thanksgiving was absolutely taboo, so he wanted to give merchants a longer shopping season in order to stimulate the depressed economy. On December 26, 1941, an Act of Congress signed by Roosevelt made the change permanent.

Answer: Evacuation Day

Until Abraham Lincoln made his Thanksgiving proclamation in 1863, the last Thursday in November had been celebrated in the USA as Evacuation Day, commemorating when the British army abandoned its headquarters in New York City, which it had occupied since September 1776. The story goes that on 25 November 1783, American soldiers tried to raise Old Glory after the Union Jack had been removed from Fort George in lower Manhattan. Unfortunately, the British had taken the rope and tackle along with their flag and had greased the flagpole for good measure! A young Yankee soldier donned cleats and nails, worked his way up the pole, and installed new halyards so as to raise the flag. This event came to symbolize the successful fight for liberty and it grew to be nationally, though unofficially, celebrated. When Abraham Lincoln made his Thanksgiving proclamation, he intended it as other Presidents had, to make it a one-off, a morale-booster in the middle of the terrible war. But this time Thanksgiving persisted and eventually supplanted Evacuation Day.

In the 21st century there began a revival of Evacuation Day, largely ignored and forgotten for over a century, particularly in New York City itself. Although some have considered it redundant because of the Fourth of July holiday, the logic behind the promoters is that whereas Independence Day marks the beginning of the Revolutionary War (more or less), Evacuation Day marks the end.

Answer: Canada

In 1992, Vancouver artist Ted Dave invented Buy Nothing Day as a time to examine over-consumption. It was quickly adopted and promoted by 'Adbusters', a magazine devoted to anti-consumerism. In 1997, they moved it to the Friday after U.S. Thanksgiving, to coincide with Black Friday, which often attracts Canadians to cross the border for bargains. In 1999, Adbusters tried to advertise Buy Nothing Day on television, but all the major U.S. networks refused to air them, except for CNN. (CBS stated that the ads were in opposition to US economic policy.) The following year, even CNN would not run the ad. By 2018, however, the campaign had nonetheless spread to 65 participating nations, including the UK, Israel, Japan, and Sweden.

One "tradition" of BND is the Zombie Walk, in which participants wander aimlessly through stores with a blank stare. When asked what they are doing, they respond, "Buying nothing." In the Whirl-Mart tradition, participants form a chain of empty shopping carts that move through stores, rather like a conga line (and of course, buying nothing). In some places, participants eschew stores altogether and hike through nature.

In 2011 'Adbusters' temporarily renamed the day Occupy Xmas, after the Occupy Movement that arose in response to the global financial crisis of 2008, the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-10, and the Arab Spring of 2011-12. Like the Occupy Movement itself, this name change was fleeting.

Answer: Mariner 4, to Mars

Red Planet Day commemorates the launch of the Mariner 4 spacecraft on 28 November 1964. Designed for close scientific observations of Mars, the robotic probe Mariner 4 performed the first successful flyby of Earth's nearest planetary neighbor and returned the first pictures of the Martian surface. The scientists at NASA had doubts that the on-board tape-recorder would work, however, so they, took a numerical printout of the raw pixels, and used pastel paints to "color-by-number", so to speak. The hand-painted image matched the computer-processed image, and proved the recorder's reliability. This hand-painted image actually became the first televised close-up picture of Mars!

Mars is called the Red Planet for the iron oxide (rust) that colors its surface. Mars has the tallest mountain in the Solar System, and the most dust storms. Mars in Modern English is named after the ancient Roman god of war, but the Babylonians called it Nergal, "king of conflicts".

Answer: Scotland

In the Scots language it is Saunt Andra's Day, and in Scots Gaelic it is Là Naomh Anndrais. Throughout Scotland on this day are art shows, Scottish country dancing and other dance festivals, storytelling, cooking traditional Scottish meals, and of course bagpipe-playing! St. Andrew's Day as a national festival may have originated under Malcolm III (1034-93). Today it is a bank holiday, and the Flag of Scotland, known as the Saltire or Saint Andrew's Cross, must fly on all buildings with a flagpole in Scotland. An old superstition is to put a Saltire on fireplaces to keep witches from entering through the chimney.

St. Andrew's Day is also recognized in other countries, where he is the patron saint. In Georgia the day is of particular significance; St. Andrew is regarded as the first to preach Christianity there. In some parts of Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia, Germany, Poland, and Romania, they once believed a woman would see her future husband on the Eve of St. Andrew's. They also believed it to be the start of a time of increased vampire activity, through the Eve of Saint George's (22 April). In Barbados, the day is celebrated as their Independence Day.