~~~ QUIZ ANSWERS ~~~

1. Which events marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere? c) The Vernal Equinox ... which usually occurs on March 20 or 21. Day and night are approximately 12 hours each and 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. Who wrote "In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love"? c) Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) ... English poet, often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry, wrote this phrase in his poem "Locksley Hall". Lord Tennyson succeeded Wordsworth as Poet Laureate in 1850.
3. Which country is home to the pyramid of Kulkulkan? b) Mexico's ... Pyramid of Kulkulkan, also known as Quetzalcoatl, the Serpent God, is in Chichen Itza, Mexico. On the vernal equinox, when the sun is directly overhead, a shadow of Quetzalcoatl's tail appears briefly on the steps, leading down to the stone head of the god at the bottom of the stairway.
4. What is a Passover Seder? a) A ceremonial dinner ... a Seder is held on the first two nights of the eight-day observance of Passover. While many Jewish holidays revolve around the synagogue, the Passover Seder is conducted in the family home. It is customary to invite friends and other guests, especially strangers and the needy.
5. Which American holiday is similar to a Swedish Easter week tradition? b) Halloween style trick-or-treating ... or candy hunting begins Easter week in Sweden ('Påsk'). 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.
6. Which Florida beach locale was a notoriously popular destination for college students on spring break? d) Fort Lauderdale ...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 for Spring Break increased even more with the 1960 release of the motion picture "Where the Boys Are", set in Fort Lauderdale. 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 partygoers to pick a new destination for the next year's break.
7. How long did it take to make a single "Peep" in 1953? c) 27 Hours ...unbelievably, were needed to create just one "Marshmallow Peep". Today, one "Peep" takes only six minutes
8. The movie "Easter Parade" immortalizes the grand Easter Sunday stroll down what famous street? d) New York's Fifth Avenue ... is still host to the Easter Parade, from 49th to 57th Streets along famous Fifth Avenue where there's a wonderful celebration in Easter finery. Bonnets are taken to an extreme that only New Yorkers can reach. The song Easter Parade (see video), written by Irving Berlin in 1933, became a popular tune that was used in the film of the same name in 1948.
9. Which ancient monument was built facing the sunrise of the vernal equinox? a) The Great Sphinx at Giza, Egypt ...is a statue with the head of a pharaoh and the body of a lion that guards the great pyramids. It has been said that the Great Sphinx was built facing not only the sunrise of the vernal equinox, but also the rise that same day of the constellation Leo (the lion). That way he could gaze at both the sun, who he is honoring, and an image of himself as a lion.
10. Where did the tradition of wearing new clothes on Easter Sunday originate? c) Holy Saturday baptism ... in these ancient Christian rituals the people who were to be baptized 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. This is where the new clothes tradition comes from ... not simple commercialism or vanity.
11. Easter in 2008 will be the will be the EARLIEST any of us will ever see in our lifetime. a) True ... The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 — 220 years from now. The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 — 277 years from now. The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, remember this day: no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year! (Note: In 2011, Easter will fall on the LATEST date in most of our lifetimes — 2011 is the only year between 1900 and 2089 that it actually falls on April 24. The last time it fell later was on April 25 in 1943, and the next time it will fall so late is April 25, 2038.) Learn more at: Snopes.com. (Contributed by Jim in Galena, Illinois).
12. Periodically, the Internet undergoes a "Spring Cleaning." b) False ... This urban myth has been circulating via e-mail since 1999, but it originated much earlier. According to 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 sites, as well as e-mails, would be deleted to make the Internet faster. Of course, it was all a hoax.