Christmas Carol Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Which carol contains the repeated phrase “tidings of comfort and joy”?
Good King Wenceslas
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
Once in Royal David’s City
We Three Kings
2. A choir director wants a carol whose chorus prominently repeats the Latin phrase “Gloria in excelsis Deo.” Which should the choir sing?
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
Away in a Manger
O Come, All Ye Faithful
Angels We Have Heard on High
3. The carol “What Child Is This?” is traditionally sung to the melody of which older tune?
Scarborough Fair
Auld Lang Syne
Greensleeves
The Ash Grove
4. While singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” you have just completed “four calling birds.” What gift comes next?
Five gold rings
Three French hens
Seven swans a-swimming
Six geese a-laying
5. Which carol is most directly identified by the repeated invitation “O come, let us adore him”?
O Come, All Ye Faithful
The First Noel
Joy to the World
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
6. Which secular Christmas favorite places its riders in a “one-horse open sleigh”?
Winter Wonderland
Jingle Bells
Sleigh Ride
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
7. A choir is preparing the “Coventry Carol.” Which biblical episode gives this lullaby its sorrowful setting?
The journey of the Magi
The annunciation to Mary
Herod’s massacre of the infants
The shepherds visiting Bethlehem
8. Which carol was first performed in German under the title “Stille Nacht”?
O Christmas Tree
Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
In the Bleak Midwinter
Silent Night
9. Which carol includes the line “Born is the King of Israel”?
Go Tell It on the Mountain
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Angels from the Realms of Glory
The First Noel
10. In the house-visiting form of wassailing, what would participants traditionally be most likely to do?
Ring church bells at midnight without singing
Stage a silent Nativity scene in each home
Carry candles in a formal church procession
Travel between homes offering songs, toasts, and good wishes
11. The French Christmas song beginning “Minuit, chrétiens” became known in English as which carol?
O Holy Night
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Angels We Have Heard on High
The Holly and the Ivy
12. A decorating playlist needs the song that tells listeners to use “boughs of holly.” Which title belongs on it?
Here We Come A-Wassailing
The Holly and the Ivy
Deck the Hall
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
13. Which carol is commonly sung to a melody adapted from music by composer Felix Mendelssohn?
Silent Night
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
O Come, All Ye Faithful
Joy to the World
14. In “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” which event is celebrated by the phrase “Glory to the newborn King”?
The visit of the Magi
The flight into Egypt
The birth of Jesus
The resurrection of Jesus
15. A concert program features a carol adapted from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Christmas Bells,” written during the American Civil War. Which carol is it?
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Do You Hear What I Hear?
16. A lyric clue describes three vessels arriving “on Christmas Day in the morning.” Which carol matches it?
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
I Saw Three Ships
Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella
Good Christian Men, Rejoice