Holiday Quiz Time

Being that it is the Holiday season, I thought I'd share this mini-quiz with you all. It comes from an article (AiG) and the answers can be found there (at the bottom) or you can message me. I thought this would be worth posting because of the noticeable loss of history over tradition. (They do share a common bond, but no they are not the same.) In large part we seem to have forgotten the history of the traditions like where traditions came from and consequently why we continue them. Then, having forgotten the true reasons we have replaced the meaning of these traditions with celebrations of various other things. St. Patrick's Day has become about drinking and the color green, but that is not its true origin or intention. The questions below are not nearly encompassing, but they are interesting and the average person is unaware of them.

Holiday Quiz: "How well do you know the history behind some of the holidays?"
1. What meats made up the Thanksgiving meal of the Pilgrims?
2. Why do we give candy to trick-or-treaters on Halloween?
3. Why is the day after Thanksgiving called Black Friday?
4. Why is the shamrock associated with St. Patrick’s Day?
5. What prominent Christian event occurred October 31, 1517?
6. Why is the poinsettia associated with Christmas?
7. Why do we celebrate Easter with eggs and a bunny?
8. Why does Santa Claus wear red?
9. Who really was St. Nicholas?
10. Bonus: True or False; A star led three wise men to the stable to see Jesus.

To quote from the article; "During the coming holidays, will your focus be on barcodes or Bethlehem? On the risen Savior or a chocolate bunny?" It is a good point I think, but first we need to know the why of the celebration don't we? What good is the celebration if we don't know what we are celebrating? Sure we have a focus, but is that focus accurate? Maybe this isn't a big deal to you (I'm not big on the holidays either), but it's worth a few minutes to ponder and maybe check the answers to these questions.