French Christmas Quiz 2018

A very happy Festive Season to all my readers. Thank you for reading the blog this year and for your stimulating comments and emails. Welcome to the 2018 – and 8th – Edition of the Life on La Lune French Christmas Quiz. This is my traditional Christmas gift to my loyal readers. Something for you to exercise your brain on, once you’ve exercised your stomach.The quiz, as always, consists of 20 questions on aspects of French history, culture, language, cuisine, geography and politics with multiple choice answers. Beware, there are a few questions where more than one answer might be correct.

A few rules:

• Try to answer without using the internet if you can – it doesn’t always give the right answer, anyway. You are, however, authorised to search this blog and you’ll find the answers to a number of the questions buried here somewhere.
• Please don’t post up your answers in the comments section below. It spoils it for everyone else.
• Don’t take it too seriously; it’s all in fun.
• There are no prizes. Virtue is its own reward.
• I will provide the correct answers on Sunday 30^th December, so you have a week to puzzle over it.

Here we go:

1 Who are the Gilets Jaunes?

a) A French pop group
b) Protesters against the cost of living in France
c) Traffic wardens

2 Which of these Michelin-starred chefs died this year?

a) Joël Robuchon
b) Paul Bocuse
c) Michel Guérard

3 What is it illegal to do in a French station while the train is standing at the platform?

a) Kissing
b) Running on the platform
c) Talking to the station master

4 What proportion of music played on private French radio stations must be of French origin?

a) 20%
b) 40%
c) 50%

5 How many tonnes of snails are eaten in France each year?

a) 6,000
b) 10,000
c) 16,000

6 To which sport is the Chapelle de Notre-Dame near Grenade-sur-l’Adour in the Landes Département devoted?

a) Football
b) Cycling
c) Rugby

7 What are marcassins?

a) Slippers
b) Game birds
c) Young wild boar

8 Which flowers do French people traditionally use to decorate family graves at Toussaint (All Saints’ Day)?

a) Lilies
b) Chrysanthemums
c) Marigolds

9 What is la canicule?

a) A type of beer brewed on Corsica
b) A heatwave
c) A kind of edible seaweed

10 What do revellers jump over during la Fête de la Saint-Jean in June?

a) A bonfire
b) A pig
c) A tricolore flag

11 What should you keep under the bed to ward off lightning strikes on your house?

a) A lock of your mother-in-law’s hair
b) Ashes from the solstice bonfire
c) A horseshoe

12 On which of the following trees does mistletoe seldom grow in France?

a) Black poplar
b) Cherry
c) Oak

13 When were French women given the right to vote?

a) 1918
b) 1944
c) 1945

14 If someone offers you chaussons do you?

a) Wear them
b) Eat them
c) Warm the bed with them

15 What is the name of President Macron’s political party?

a) Les Républicains
b) La République en Marche
c) Rassemblement National

16 A picture question. Which city is this?

a) Lyon
b) Toulouse
c) Bordeaux

17 If someone is described as “avoir la frite”, what state are they in?

a) In top physical and mental form
b) Mortally afraid
c) In a bad mood

18 What is un préservatif?

a) An ingredient for keeping food fresh
b) A condom
c) A life jacket

19 In which category has France won the most Nobel Prizes?

a) Economic Sciences
b) Physics
c) Literature

20 Another picture question. With which saint is this symbol associated? 

a) Saint-Martin
b) Saint-Jean
c) Saint-Jacques

Amusez-vous bien!

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