Month of the Year: March Trivia Quiz

Answer: the fifteenth of March

The "ides" of any month in the Ancient Roman calendar was important for both religious and commercial reasons. It was the date by which monthly financial obligations (such as rent) were due. The ides was NOT the fifteenth of every month. It was the 15th day of March, May, July, or October, and the 13th day of every other month.

The Ides of March ("Idus Martiae"), 15 March 44 BC, was the date on which Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Sixty senators were involved; Caesar died of 23 knife wounds.

Answer: college basketball

The National Collegiate Athletic Commission conducts a single-elimination tournament of NCAA Division I men's basketball teams in March of each year. This has been "branded" as "March Madness." The tournament began in 1939, the innovation of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Few sporting events generate as many "office pools" on which participants bet on outcomes as does March Madness.

The selection of participants is mechanical in part (the 32 Division I conference champions) and metaphysical in part (the invitations issued by a committee on Selection Sunday).

The teams are ranked and seeded. The first round is of 32 games. The next is the "Sweet Sixteen" followed by the "Elite Eight" and the "Final Four."

Answer: The Ides of March

Wilder is perhaps better known as a playwright than as a novelist; he wrote almost fifty plays and only seven novels. His "The Ides of March" (1948) is epistolary novel (written in the form of documents such as letters). It is set at the end of the Roman republic, in the days leading up to the assassination of Julius Caesar (15 March 44 BC).

While set in an historical period, this is not an historical novel; several of the characters were dead at the time depicted in the play: M. Porcius Cato, Catullus, Julia and Clodius. Wilder himself wrote "Historical reconstruction is not among the primary aims of this work." Some of the documents (e.g. some poetry) are genuine; most are imagined.

Answer: women

Women's History Week was first observed in March of 1982 in response to an act of Congress and a presidential proclamation. This designation of Women's History Week was similarly reauthorized through 1986. Upon a petition brought by the National Women's History Project, the observance was expanded to Women's History Month in 1987.

The month recognizes and celebrates the contributions and accomplishments of women in U.S. history. In recent years, Women's History Month has been observed nationally by the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Gallery of Art, the National Park Service, the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. State, county and municipal observances occur, as well.

Answer: Dutch, Frisian and Afrikaans

"Maart" is the Dutch word for March, as it is in both Frisian and Afrikaans. The Danish, Estonian and Latvian word for March is similar: "Marts." In Icelandic, Norwegian and Spanish, the correct term is "Mars." In Spain and Italy, it is "Marzo." The Modern English noun March derives from the Anglo-French "marche," the Old French "marz," all of which derives from the Latin "Martius."

Answer: "Little Women", Louisa May Alcott

Brooks' novel retells the story of Alcott's "Little Women" told from the point of view of character Jo March's father. Mr. March is mostly absent from the original novel, being a chaplain in the Union Army during the Civil War. Brooks' character is based, at least in part, on Louisa May Alcott's father, Amos Branson Alcott. "March" won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2006. The novel won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Answer: rain in March

Brazilian composer Antônio Carlos Jobim (1927-1994) wrote "Águas de Março" ("The Waters of March") as what he called a "stream of consciousness" about impermanence. The rainy season in Brazil, beginning in March, brings sudden and intense rains which wash things away: pau (stick), pedra (stone), caco de vidro (sliver of glass), nó da madeira (a knot in wood), estrepe (thorn), lama (mud).

The definitive recording (audio and video) is by the composer and Elis Regina in their 1974 album "Elis and Tom." Covers include Stan Getz and João Gilberto (1976), Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '77 (1974), Art Garfunkel (1975), Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '88 (1978), Al Jarreau (1997), John Pizzarelli with Rosemary Clooney (2000) and Bono and U2 (2017).

Answer: aquamarine

The traditional birthstone for people born in March is aquamarine. Earlier lists assign bloodstone to this month. Aquamarine is a blue-green coloured stone. The name derives from two Latin words: "aqua" meaning water and "marina" meaning the sea. The idea is that the stone is the colour of sea water.

The stone is a hexagonal crystal in the beryl family. It is found extensively in Brazil, Madagascar, the United States, Australia, India, Namibia, and Nigeria.

Answer: 31

"Countdown" is a long story about the consequences of an event which instantly kills six billion people, leaving only teenagers to survive. Adults and small children are reduced to puddles of "black goo." Each of the twelve volumes tells of the aftermath in one month of 1999. Daniel Parker is the pen name of Daniel Ehrenhaft, who writes lots of children's and YA books.

Answer: the Roman god of war

The month of March is named for Mars, the Roman god of war. Some historians suggest that the conduct of war was interrupted in the winter months. March was the month in which armies prepared to re-engage in war and was marked by feasts of blessing and dedication of the army.

Although there are variants, Mars is generally understood to be the son of Jupiter and Juno. He is also conceived as the father of the Roman people.