All Things Spring Quiz

All Things Spring Quizby Megan Aemmer (with promised answers!)
Ah, spring. The weather gets warmer, the days grow longer, and birds happily build nests for their new families. Love is in the air as the sun-kissed colors of newly sprouted daffodils and tulips chase the winter blues away. But how much spring trivia is blooming in your brain? Test your spring smarts with this quiz.Try it! Questions and answers provided by the Discovery Channel.

1 Which of these events marks the
beginning of spring in the
Northern Hemisphere?

a) Groundhog Day


b) Mardi Gras


c) The vernal equinox


d) Easter Sunday

The correct answer: C The vernal equinox. The vernal equinox, which usually occurs on March 20 or 21, marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. This is when both hemispheres are at an equal distance to the Sun. The vernal equinox was also the day that the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxons celebrated the festival of Eastre, the Germanic goddess of spring and fertility. Some traditions associated with her celebration are a part of Easter today, such as Easter-egg coloring and the bunny as a symbol of fertility.

2 Periodically, the Internet
undergoes a "Spring Cleaning,"
during which time users must
disconnect or risk the deletion
of unused files.

a) True


b) False

The correct answer: B False. This urban myth has been circulating via e-mail since 1999, but it originated much earlier. According to the urban-myth-debunking Web site Snopes.com, the message was purportedly sent by either Massachusetts Institute of Technology staff (1999 version) or the Department of Homeland Security (2006 version). Internet users were warned that a "Spring Cleaning" would take place from midnight on March 31st to the early morning of April 1st, during which all unused ftp, www, and gopher sites, as well as e-mails, would be deleted to make the Internet faster. Of course, it was all a hoax.

3 College sports fans get excited
for which early springtime
playoff series?

a) NCAA Women's Division I
Softball Championship


b) NCAA Women's Division I
Volleyball Championship


c) NCAA Men's Division I
Football Championship


d) NCAA Men's Division I
Basketball Championship

The correct answer: D NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men's Division I Basketball Championship, also known as "March Madness," is held over three weeks in March and early April. The single-elimination tournament starts with 65 college basketball teams, with the winning teams advancing to the "Sweet 16" regional semifinals, the "Elite Eight" regional semifinals, and the "Final Four" national semifinals before battling for the championship title.


4 In the United States, wearing
new clothes on Easter Sunday is
a popular tradition. Where does
the tradition stem from?

a) Milan's fashion week


b) Jesus Christ's robes on Palm
Sunday


c) Holy Saturday baptism
rituals


d) Ancient pagan rituals

The correct answer: C Holy Saturday baptism rituals. The custom of wearing new clothes on Easter Sunday, popular in the United States, actually began in the church hundreds of years ago. People who were baptized on Holy Saturday were given new white robes to wear, and other members of the congregation would wear new clothes in memory of their participation in the ceremony.

5 Baseball fans hoping to catch
some spring training action must
travel to at least one of which
two sunny states?

a) Arizona and Florida


b) California and Texas


c) New Mexico and Louisiana


d) Georgia and Mississippi

The correct answer: A Arizona and Florida. In March, Major League Baseball teams travel to Arizona and Florida to participate in spring training. Each team plays many games within a week, so fans have plenty of chances to catch their team in action. In Arizona, teams play in the Cactus League, while in Florida they participate in Grapefruit League games.

6 In Greek mythology, spring comes
when this goddess is joyously
reunited with her daughter each
year. Which is it?

a) Demeter

b) Athena

c) Aphrodite


d) Hestia

The correct answer: A Demeter. According to Greek mythology, Demeter, goddess of grain and the harvest, is reunited with her daughter Persephone each spring. Abundant grain, fruits, and flowers spring forth with her joy, but die with her grief in the fall, when Persephone must return to the underworld and to Hades, who abducted her.

7 In many countries, May Day is a
celebration of spring, but the
first day of May also
commemorates what?

a) The Chinese New Year


b) Day of the Dead (Mexico)


c) The civil rights movement


d) The labor movement

The correct answer: D The labor movement. May Day, celebrated on the first of May, is a merry celebration of spring in many European countries, but it also commemorates the international labor movement. In 1889, at a meeting of socialists in France, an international workers' day was initiated. It was originally intended to honor anarchist workers who were sentenced to death for their involvement in the Haymarket Square Riot of 1886. Over the years May Day became more popular, especially in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and other Communist countries, although the United States and Canada celebrate labor on Labor Day in September.

8 Which Florida beach locale was a notoriously popular destination
for college students on spring
break from the end of World War
II until the late 1980s?

a) Panama City Beach


b) Key West


c) South Beach


d) Fort Lauderdale

The correct answer: D Fort Lauderdale. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was a notorious, and very popular, spring break destination for college students from the end of World War II until the late 1980s. Although students had been coming to Fort Lauderdale for years, the city's popularity as a spring break destination increased even more with the 1960 release of the motion picture Where the Boys Are, set in Fort Lauderdale during spring break. However, after as many as 350,000 to 375,000 spring breakers flocked to the city in 1985, residents complained and law enforcement cracked down on noise and public drinking, causing partyers to pick a new destination for the next year's break.



9 Which American candy-focused
holiday is similar to a Swedish
Easter week tradition?

a) Valentine's Day


b) Halloween


c) Mother's Day


d) Christmas Eve

The correct answer: B Halloween. In Sweden, Easter week begins with a candy hunt that is very similar to Halloween trick-or-treating. Children dress up as påskkärringar, or Easter witches, with headscarves and long skirts, and faces painted with red cheeks and freckles. They go door to door wishing people happy Easter, and collecting candy and small change in copper kettles in exchange for a drawing or a song. Although the practice of dressing up in costumes began fairly recently (in the last 200 years), the association between witches and Easter began much earlier. It was believed that on Maundy Thursday, witches flew off to the mythical Blåkulla--blue mountain--to meet with the devil before church on Good Friday.

10 Which colorful northern Indian
Hindu festival celebrates the
arrival of spring?

a) Raksābandhana


b) Holi


c) Vaisakhi


d) Ganesh Chaturathi

The correct answer: B Holi. Hindus in northern India celebrate the arrival of spring with the festival of Holi on the day after the first full moon in early March. The festival is a celebration of fun and general hilarity, as people of all ages and castes throw brightly colored powder (gulal) and water on each other. There are also colorful processions with folk songs and dancing, bonfires on the night of the full moon, and it is all followed by candies and relaxation at the end of the crazy day.


Go to http://encarta.msn.com/quiz_251/all_things_spring_quiz.html to see the source!