Quiz time: Holidays from A-Z
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It's the holiday season, but can you name a holiday for every letter from A to Z? Put on your thinking cap and hit the right arrow.
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Number 1-10946
Let's start with A holidays. Got one in mind? Maybe the picture above will help. Think trees...
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Arbor Day was created in 1872 as a day to plant trees. It is typically celebrated on the last Friday in April, but many states celebrate it on different days based on their best tree planting times.
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Maybe you celebrate Advent? It's the season of waiting and preparing for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus. Most churches celebrate Advent starting on the fourth Sunday before December 25.
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Another religious holiday that starts with an A is Ash Wednesday. It's the first day of Lent. It falls 46 days before Easter.
Design Pics/Con Tanasiuk
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A is also April Fool's Day...
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Number 6-10946
Moving on to B. Can you think of a B holiday where people would dress up like this?
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Boxing Day is celebrated on December 26 in the UK & Canada. It originated as a holiday for members of the merchant class to give boxes containing food and fruit, clothing and/or money to trades people and servants, according to calendar-updates.com.
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Boss's Day, October 16, is a chance for employees to thank their boss. However, if this picture represents your boss, you may want to call in sick on October 16.
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Number 9-10946
Most people will be able to name a C holiday pretty easily...
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Christmas is on December 25
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And depending on how you spell it, you could choose Chanukah as your C holiday. But play fair, if you use Chanukah, you can't also use Hanukkah.
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For a C holiday, you could pick Columbus Day, but some people would prefer to dump Columbus Day or modify it to something else. South Dakota has already done that, they celebrate Native American Day on the 2nd Monday in October.
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Another C holiday is Cinco de Mayo, the fifth of May, which marks the Mexican army's 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. In the U.S., Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage.
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Number 14-10946
For a D holiday, we picked a Mexican tradition. Got any guesses?
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Day of the Dead, also known as Dia de los Muertos is a holiday to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration takes place on November 1 and 2.
John & Lisa Merrill
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Number 16-10946
Can you think of an E holiday that gets people outside cleaning up trash and planting trees?
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Earth Day is celebrated on April 22.
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And, of course, most people will think of Easter for their E holiday.
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F is not for fireworks, but can you name a holiday that starts with a F and is celebrated with fireworks?
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The Fourth of July celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on 7-4-1776. Now remember if you use 4th of July for F, you can not use Independence Day for I. Don't worry, here are more F holidays...
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Here's another patriotic holiday -- Flag Day, celebrated on June 14 in the Unired States.
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Don't forget dear old Dad by celebrating Father's Day on the third Sunday in June.
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And we couldn't forget Festivus, celebrated on December 23, as a way to mark the holiday season without the pressures and commercialism, according to Wikipedia. Festivus became part of pop culture after being featured on an episode of Seinfeld.
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Score yourself extra points if you can name 3 holidays that start with a G.
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On Groundhog Day, people around the world turn their attention to Pennsylvania to watch if a groundhog sees his shadow. Legend says if the groundhog's shadow appears, expect six more weeks of winter. If there's no shadow, expect an early spring.
Photographer: Jeff Swensen/Stringer
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Good Friday marks the day Christians believe Jesus Christ was crucified. Good Friday is observed on the Friday before Easter.
(Photo: Paris Archbishop carrying a cross on Good Friday.)
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In 1978, President Jimmy Carter proclaimed National Grandparents Day as the first Sunday after Labor Day. Grandparents-Day.com says the day was started to champion the cause of lonely elderly in nursing homes.
Photographer: Cristian Baitg
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Can you name the H holiday that has people carving pumpkins and kids dressing up in costumes?
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Halloween, of course! (Or Hallowe'en, a contraction of All Hallows' Evening.) The holiday known for costumes, candy and pumpkins traces its roots back to ancient religions.
Photographer: Ryan McVay
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Hanukkah's 8-day festival celebrates the Jews driving the Greeks from their homeland. Despite a lack of oil, those Jews lit the temple's menorah and it burned for 8 days while a new oil was prepared, that miracle is re-enacted by lighting candles.
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We found two "I" holidays that celebrate America as a country.
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Independence Day, on the 4th of July, celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on 7-4-1776.
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Inauguration Day is held on Jan. 20, thanks to the 20th amendment. However, when Inauguration Day falls on a Sunday, the ceremony is typically held on the following day.
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Can you think of a J holiday? We only came up with one and we're cheating a bit on the name...
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Rosh Hashana is commonly known as the Jewish New Year, so we took it for J. It is a time to look back at the mistakes of the past year and plan changes in the new year, according to JewFaq.org. The horn above is used in synagogue services.
Photographer: Sally Moskol
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For K, we picked a holiday that's important in the African community.
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Kwanzaa is an African celebration of family, community and culture that is held from Dec 26 to Jan 1. The Mishumaa Saba/The Seven Candles (see above) are symbolic of the Seven Principles, a set of values which African people are urged to live by.
Photographer: Inti St. Clair
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L is not for losers in this case, because we found two holidays that start with a L, one is a federal holiday.
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You may think of Labor Day as a day for picnics, but it's also a day to celebrate yourself. Labor Day is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers, according to the Dept. of Labor.
Photographer: Liza McCorkle
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Lincoln's birthday in February celebrates Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President. He led our country during the Civil War before being assassinated.
Photographer: Nick Vaccaro
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M may be the easiest letter of this quiz, we came up with at least five M holidays.
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On May 1st, many cultures around the world celebrate May Day. It's an ancient holiday where people would dance and sing around a maypole tied with colorful ribbons. In modern times, people sometimes leave baskets of flowers or treats for neighbors.
Photographer: Joe Fox
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Mother's Day is also celebrated in May, on the second Sunday of the month. It's a day to honor mothers for their hard work raising children.
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Memorial Day is the third holiday in May. On Memorial Day, we honor the men and women who have died serving our country. Memorial Day started as Decoration Day to honor those killed in the Civil War.
Photographer: Paul Marotta
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Martin Luther King Day is a federal holiday in January. It celebrates the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights leader. Some like to say it's not a day "off," it's a day "on" to serve in the community.
Photographer: James H. Karales
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And there's Mardi Gras which is French for Fat Tuesday -- the idea of eating badly before the fasting season that begins on Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is celebrated in many areas with parades and carnivals.
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Name the N holiday that begins the year with a bang in many places!
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New Year's Day -- The day for football, hangover recovery and making resolutions that you'll likely break within days.
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Raise a glass for this O holiday!
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Oktoberfest is a 16-day festival celebrating beer in Munich, Germany. More than 6 million people attend the big fair, according to Wikipedia. The locals call it "die Wiesn" - after the colloquial name of the fairgrounds themselves.
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Our newest U.S. holiday is Patriot Day -- September 11. Congress requested the observance of September 11 as an annually recognized "National Day of Service and Remembrance."
Can you name other P holidays?
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There's Presidents' Day, which many people know as Washington's birthday, but some use to celebrate both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. (Two of the men on Mt. Rushmore. Can you name the other two?)
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Pearl Harbor Day on December 7 remembers and honors the more than 2,400 people killed in the attack on 12-7-41 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
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Passover is one of the most commonly observed Jewish holidays, according to JewFaq.org. Agriculturally, it represents the beginning of the harvest season in Israel, but the primary observances are related to the Exodus from Egypt.
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Have you ever celebrated a holiday that starts with a Q?
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The best holiday we could find was Queen's Day in Amsterdam. It draws 700,000 people to the city on April 30 for a unique night and day carnival-like event.
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R you there still? The challenge isn't over yet!
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One billion people around the world celebrate Ramadan in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and the month in which Muslims believe the Quran was revealed, according to Wikipedia. Muslims spend the month fasting from dawn to sunset.
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Rosh Hashanah is commonly known as the Jewish New Year. It is a time to begin introspection, looking back at the mistakes of the past year and planning the changes to make in the new year, according to JewFaq.org.
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Green stockings-10946
Can you name a S holiday that will have you wearing green?
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Okay, that was easy, but did you know Saint Patrick was a patron saint of Ireland? History.com says St. Patrick's Day has been a religous holiday for more than 1,000 years.
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Here's another fun S holiday -- S'mores Day. WhatTheHeckHolidays says S'mores Day is celebrated on August 10.
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Can you name the T holiday that has ovens across America cooking for several hours?
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Thanksgiving started in 1621 when the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast, according to History.com. It wasn't until 1863 that President Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.
Photographer: Erik Rank
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Or maybe you were thinking of Talk Like A Pirate Day? There's some debate about when this started, but it's held on September 19. "Ahoy, matey!"
Photographer: Sami Sarkis
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The end of the alphabet and our game is coming, but now it's about to get tougher. Put on your thinking cap and let's tackle U. Got any ideas?
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German Unity Day, on October 3, commemorates the anniversary of German reunification in 1990.
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A certain V holiday may have you thinking of love...
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Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14th.
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And another V holiday is Veterans Day. A day to honor all of those who have served our country.
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W! I can not tell a lie, there's a W holiday that kids in the United States have celebrated for many years in February.
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The third Monday in February is George Washington's birthday. It's a federal holiday and is also known as Presidents' Day.
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X was one of the two toughest letters to come with a holiday for. Do you have any ideas?
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There's the Xian Festival in China to celebrate Spring, but it's more of a festival than a holiday.
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X-mas is one option. It's a common abbreviation for Christmas, but it's offensive to some.
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For Y we turned, once again, to Jewish history....
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Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, is considered by some as the most important holiday of the Jewish year. Many fast for the entire day.
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After 25 letters, finally we come to Z. Maybe the toughest holiday to come up with, but we found two.
Photographer: David Malan
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Z Day -- a holiday dedicated to everyone with a first name that starts with the letter Z, according to whattheheckholidays. It's celebrated on January 1st.
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And there are those who believe Z-Day is the day the zombies will rise up and begin a war with mankind.
On that note, thanks for playing along. If you think we missed an important holiday email: debbie@TheDenverChannel.com
Courtesy: Emma Wood