Religious & Biblical Christmas Trivia

Religious & Biblical Christmas Trivia

1. 1.In which town was Jesus born?easy

   Answer: Bethlehem

2. 2.What were the three gifts of the Magi?easy

   Answer: Gold, frankincense and myrrh

3. 3.What were the names of Jesus's earthly parents?easy

   Answer: Mary and Joseph

4. 4.Which angel appeared to Mary?medium

   Answer: Gabriel

5. 5.Who was the king of Judea when Jesus was born?medium

   Answer: Herod the Great

6. 6.Which two Gospels contain the Nativity story?medium

   Answer: Matthew and Luke

7. 7.What guided the Wise Men to Jesus?easy

   Answer: A star

8. 8.Where did the family flee to escape Herod?medium

   Answer: Egypt

9. 9.Who was the Roman emperor who ordered the census?hard

   Answer: Caesar Augustus

10. 10.What is Advent?medium

    Answer: The four-week season of preparation before Christmas

11. 11.Which prophet foretold a virgin would bear a son named Immanuel?hard

    Answer: Isaiah

12. 12.Does the Bible say how many Wise Men there were?hard

    Answer: No, only that there were three gifts

13. 13.Who first saw the newborn Jesus after the angels' announcement?easy

    Answer: Shepherds

14. 14.What does 'Immanuel' mean?medium

    Answer: God with us

15. 15.Where was baby Jesus laid after birth?easy

    Answer: In a manger

16. 16.Why was there no room for Mary and Joseph?easy

    Answer: There was no room at the inn

17. 17.Which Gospel tells of the shepherds?medium

    Answer: Luke

18. 18.Which Gospel tells of the Wise Men?medium

    Answer: Matthew

19. 19.What was Joseph's profession?easy

    Answer: Carpenter

20. 20.From which town did Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem?medium

    Answer: Nazareth

21. 21.Who was Mary's cousin who gave birth to John the Baptist?medium

    Answer: Elizabeth

22. 22.What was the name of Elizabeth's husband, a priest?hard

    Answer: Zechariah

23. 23.Which song of praise did Mary sing in Luke 1?hard

    Answer: The Magnificat

24. 24.How did the angel tell Joseph to take Mary as his wife?medium

    Answer: In a dream

25. 25.What does 'Christmas' literally mean?medium

    Answer: Christ's Mass

26. 26.Which elderly man in the Temple recognised baby Jesus as the Messiah?hard

    Answer: Simeon

27. 27.Which prophetess also greeted baby Jesus in the Temple?hard

    Answer: Anna

28. 28.What did the angels sing to the shepherds?medium

    Answer: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace

29. 29.What city did the Wise Men visit first, asking for the newborn king?medium

    Answer: Jerusalem

30. 30.Which prophet foretold the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem?hard

    Answer: Micah

31. 31.What were the shepherds doing when the angel appeared?easy

    Answer: Keeping watch over their flocks by night

32. 32.What is the Feast of the Epiphany commemorating?medium

    Answer: The visit of the Magi

33. 33.What is the Holy Innocents feast about?hard

    Answer: Herod's massacre of the infants in Bethlehem

34. 34.How many days old was Jesus at his naming and circumcision?hard

    Answer: Eight days

35. 35.What colour candles are traditionally used on an Advent wreath?medium

    Answer: Purple (or blue) and one pink, with a white centre

36. 36.Which saint is said to have created the first live Nativity scene in 1223?hard

    Answer: St. Francis of Assisi

37. 37.What is the 'Midnight Mass' held on?easy

    Answer: Christmas Eve night

38. 38.Which Wise Man is traditionally said to have brought gold?hard

    Answer: Melchior

39. 39.What does the name 'Jesus' mean?medium

    Answer: The Lord saves

40. 40.What title does 'Christ' mean?medium

    Answer: Anointed one (Messiah)

41. 41.Which book of the Bible contains Luke 2?easy

    Answer: The Gospel of Luke

42. 42.What animals are traditionally in the Nativity scene?easy

    Answer: Ox and donkey (also sheep)

43. 43.Which Old Testament book mentions 'the ox knows its owner, the donkey its master's crib'?hard

    Answer: Isaiah

44. 44.What were the Magi often believed to be?medium

    Answer: Astrologers or wise men from the East

45. 45.What are the traditional names of the three Wise Men?medium

    Answer: Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar

46. 46.Which gift symbolised kingship?medium

    Answer: Gold

47. 47.Which gift symbolised divinity?medium

    Answer: Frankincense

48. 48.Which gift foreshadowed death?medium

    Answer: Myrrh

49. 49.What did the angel tell the shepherds they would find?medium

    Answer: A baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger

50. 50.What does 'Bethlehem' mean in Hebrew?hard

    Answer: House of bread

51. 51.Which king's city is Bethlehem called?medium

    Answer: The city of David

52. 52.From which tribe of Israel was Jesus descended?hard

    Answer: Judah

53. 53.Who was Joseph descended from?medium

    Answer: King David

54. 54.Who struck Zechariah mute?hard

    Answer: The angel Gabriel

55. 55.What did Zechariah name his son?medium

    Answer: John

56. 56.What did baby John do when Mary visited Elizabeth?medium

    Answer: Leaped in the womb

57. 57.What is the visit of Mary to Elizabeth called?hard

    Answer: The Visitation

58. 58.What is the angel's announcement to Mary called?medium

    Answer: The Annunciation

59. 59.On what date is the Annunciation celebrated?hard

    Answer: March 25

60. 60.What song did Simeon sing in the Temple?hard

    Answer: Nunc Dimittis

61. 61.What sacrifice did Mary and Joseph offer at the Temple?hard

    Answer: A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons

62. 62.Where did the family settle after Egypt?medium

    Answer: Nazareth

63. 63.Who succeeded Herod, prompting Joseph to avoid Judea?hard

    Answer: Archelaus

64. 64.How did the Wise Men know not to return to Herod?medium

    Answer: They were warned in a dream

65. 65.What is the first Sunday of Advent the start of?hard

    Answer: The Christian liturgical year

66. 66.How many Sundays are in Advent?easy

    Answer: Four

67. 67.What does the pink Advent candle represent?hard

    Answer: Joy (Gaudete Sunday)

68. 68.What is 'Gaudete Sunday'?hard

    Answer: The third Sunday of Advent

69. 69.What does the Latin 'Adventus' mean?medium

    Answer: Coming / arrival

70. 70.What is the 'Christmas Octave'?hard

    Answer: Eight days from Christmas to January 1

71. 71.Which feast on January 1 honours Mary?hard

    Answer: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

72. 72.Which saint's feast is December 26?medium

    Answer: St. Stephen

73. 73.Who was the first Christian martyr?medium

    Answer: St. Stephen

74. 74.Which apostle's feast is December 27?hard

    Answer: St. John the Evangelist

75. 75.What is Candlemas (February 2)?hard

    Answer: The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

76. 76.What hymn begins 'O come, O come, Emmanuel'?medium

    Answer: An Advent hymn based on the O Antiphons

77. 77.What are the 'O Antiphons'?hard

    Answer: Seven chants sung December 17–23

78. 78.Which Gospel begins 'In the beginning was the Word'?medium

    Answer: John

79. 79.Which Gospel has a genealogy of Jesus starting with Abraham?hard

    Answer: Matthew

80. 80.Which Gospel traces Jesus's genealogy back to Adam?hard

    Answer: Luke

81. 81.What was the census Mary and Joseph travelled for?medium

    Answer: A Roman census for taxation

82. 82.Who was governor of Syria during the census according to Luke?hard

    Answer: Quirinius

83. 83.What did the star do when the Magi found Jesus?medium

    Answer: It stopped over the place where the child was

84. 84.What did the Magi do when they saw Jesus?easy

    Answer: Bowed down and worshipped him, offering gifts

85. 85.Where were the Magi from, according to Matthew?easy

    Answer: The East

86. 86.What is the Nativity of Jesus celebrated by Orthodox churches on?medium

    Answer: January 7 (Julian calendar)

87. 87.What kind of building do Nativity scenes often depict, though the Bible doesn't say?medium

    Answer: A stable

88. 88.Many scholars think the stable was actually what?hard

    Answer: A cave or lower room of a house

89. 89.What angelic group praised God with the angel?medium

    Answer: A multitude of the heavenly host

90. 90.What did the shepherds do after seeing Jesus?easy

    Answer: Spread the word and glorified God

91. 91.What did Mary do with all these things?medium

    Answer: Treasured them and pondered them in her heart

92. 92.How old was Mary traditionally believed to be?hard

    Answer: A young teenager (about 13–16)

93. 93.Who was told 'Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife'?easy

    Answer: Joseph

94. 94.What did the angel say Jesus would save his people from?medium

    Answer: Their sins

95. 95.Which prophet said 'For unto us a child is born'?medium

    Answer: Isaiah

96. 96.What names does Isaiah 9:6 give the child?hard

    Answer: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace

97. 97.What is a 'crèche'?medium

    Answer: A Nativity scene

98. 98.What is the 'Christingle'?hard

    Answer: An orange with a candle representing Christ as the light of the world

99. 99.What does the red ribbon on a Christingle represent?hard

    Answer: The blood of Christ

100. 100.What does 'Emmanuel' appear in, Isaiah 7:14 or Isaiah 53?hard

     Answer: Isaiah 7:14

101. 101.What Latin carol means 'O come, all ye faithful'?medium

     Answer: Adeste Fideles

102. 102.Which Christian denomination popularised the Advent wreath in Germany?hard

     Answer: Lutherans (Johann Hinrich Wichern, 1839)