Funfairs Around the World Trivia Quiz

Answer: Thailand

The first festival was held in 2007 to promote tourism in Thailand. The objective of the fair is to give fruit and vegetables to the monkey population in the central Lopburi province. The Monkey Buffet Festival is held each November 25. The monkeys are believed to be descendants of a monkey warrior, and they bring good fortune to the community.

Answer: Babies

The event dates back to 1620 in the village of Castrillo de Murcia, in northern Spain. A man dressed as the devil runs down the street jumping over newborns lying on mattresses. It is the climax of a week-long celebration honoring the feast of Corpus Christi.

The process is supposed to cleanse the newborns of sin, and ensure them health, and to fight off evil spirits through life. The Roman Catholic Church has asked Spanish priests to distance themselves from this tradition, and promote baptism instead.

Answer: Mop Fairs

Hiring Fairs, or Mop Fairs, date back to the reign of King Edward III in the 1560s. Following the Black Death, England experienced a labor shortage, particularly in primarily agricultural areas, so annual fairs were held in market towns around the country to enable employers looking for staff to hire laborers.

These fairs are mostly held around Michaelmas Day, which was traditionally October 11 (although the modern Christian calendar has moved it to September 29). Laborers, farm workers, servants and some craftsmen historically had annual contracts running from October to October, or from one year's Mop Fair to the next.

Answer: September

Although the world's largest annual fair is called "Oktoberfest", at least nine, and as many as fifteen days, of the 16-day festival has to be held in September. Since its inception in 1810 until German reunification in 1994, Oktoberfest always ran for 16 days ending on the first Sunday in October. Since 1994, the schedule has been modified so that if the first Sunday in October happens to fall on the 1st or 2nd of the month, then the festival carries on until the Monday.

This was done to ensure that "German Unity Day", October 3rd, always falls within the Oktoberfest festivities.

The traditional 16-day festival is therefore now extended by one or two days if either of the first two days in October is a Sunday.

Answer: Calgary

Beginning as a local agricultural fair in 1886, the Calgary Stampede was born when the rodeo first came to town in 1919 as a celebration to Honor soldiers returning home from WWI. The 10-day fair has been staged annually since 1923. It has become so much part of the city that Calgary's Canadian Football League team are even named the Calgary Stampeders and two of the city's official nicknames are "Cowtown" and "Stampede City".

Answer: Paris

The "Musée des Arts Forains", located on Avenue des Terroirs de France in Paris, houses the collection of Jean-Paul Favand. First opened to the public in 1996, the museum contains amusement rides, fair stalls, restored attractions, merry-go-rounds and carousels, German swings, 19th-Century bicycles and even Japanese billiards.

Answer: Luxembourg

Each summer, dozens of fake cows pop up around the city of Luxembourg. The cows are decorated with all sorts of different artistic creations, and some even moo! This exhibition has no prizes and no winners.

Answer: Toronto

Known colloquially as "The Ex", the fair lasts eighteen days ending on Canadian Labor Day. It is the largest fair in Canada. The first official CNE was in 1879, to promote Canadian agriculture and technology. The fair now features a full midway, along with restaurants, games, shopping, and many other features.

Answer: Holiday

The modern-day meaning of 'fair' can to be used to refer to a carnival, a traveling funfair, a permanent amusement park, an annual celebration, a state or county fair, and many other variations on the theme. The Latin word from which the term comes means 'holiday'.

Answer: Buffaloes

Diwali (aka Deepavali) is known as the "festival of lights", a 5-day Hindu festival which starts each year on Dhanteras, the thirteenth lunar day of Krishna paksha (dark fortnight) of the Hindu calendar month Ashwin. Falling between mid-October and mid-November in the Gregorian calendar, Diwali is a national holiday in India and numerous other countries. Sadar (aka Dunnapothula Panduga) is held on the second day of the Diwali holiday. Buffaloes are painted, sometimes all over but always their horns, adorned with garlands of flowers, and paraded through the streets.

There are prizes for the best-decorated buffalo.