40 Fun Fall and Autumn Trivia Questions and Answers for Seniors

The TriviaTalent Team · 6 min read

There’s a certain morning every year when you step outside and the air has changed. It’s cooler, a little sharper, and down the street a neighbor is raking leaves into a pile just begging to be jumped in. The maples have started to turn, and the whole world smells faintly of woodsmoke and apples.

Fall has a way of gathering up the best memories — hayrides and harvest suppers, the big game on a Saturday afternoon, a slice of pumpkin pie after the Thanksgiving dishes are cleared. These 40 questions walk you back through the season you know by heart, with the answer tucked right under each one so you can play on your own or read them aloud to a room full of people who love this time of year.

The Changing of the Leaves

1. In the fall, the green fades from the leaves and the bright colors come out. What green substance is breaking down to let that happen?

Chlorophyll — the pigment that makes leaves green all summer. As the days shorten, it breaks down and the yellows and oranges that were there all along finally show through.

2. Those hidden yellow and orange pigments have a name. Do you know it?

Carotenoids — the same family of pigments that colors carrots and egg yolks.

3. The deep reds and purples of some autumn leaves come from a pigment the tree actually makes in the fall. What is it called?

Anthocyanins.

4. Fall officially begins on a day when daylight and darkness are nearly equal. What is that moment called?

The autumnal equinox.

5. In the Northern Hemisphere, that equinox usually lands around which date in September?

Around September 22nd or 23rd.

6. The full moon that falls closest to the autumn equinox has a special name. What is it?

The Harvest Moon.

7. Why was that Harvest Moon such a gift to farmers before electric lights?

It rises soon after sunset for several nights in a row, so its bright light let them keep bringing in the crops well into the evening.

8. We call this season “fall” because of a longer old phrase. Can you finish it — the fall of the what?

The fall of the leaf. The phrase was shortened to simply “fall.”

9. Long before anyone said “autumn” or “fall,” the season went by another plain, hard-working name. What was it?

Harvest.

10. Which orange-and-black butterfly flies south every fall, some of them traveling more than two thousand miles to the mountains of central Mexico?

The monarch butterfly.

11. On a crisp fall afternoon you’ll see squirrels dashing about with full cheeks. What are they busy doing?

Burying and storing nuts — caching food to get them through the winter.

Bringing in the Harvest

12. What orange gourd gets carved on the porch in October and baked into a pie in November?

The pumpkin.

13. Here’s one that fools people: is a pumpkin a fruit or a vegetable?

A fruit. It grows from the plant’s flower and carries the seeds, which is what makes it a fruit botanically.

14. Orchards fill up every fall with folks picking which crisp, round fruit for pies and cider?

Apples.

15. What sweet, cloudy drink is pressed from those apples and often served warm with a cinnamon stick?

Apple cider.

16. An American folk hero is remembered for planting apple trees across the frontier. By what nickname do we know him?

Johnny Appleseed — whose real name was John Chapman.

17. What tall golden grain, gathered in the fall, gives us the dried stalks and husks of autumn decorations?

Corn.

18. What straw-stuffed figure stands in the field to keep the crows away from the ripening crops?

A scarecrow.

Autumn Holidays and Feasts

19. In the United States, Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of which month?

November.

20. Which president proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving back in 1863, in the middle of the Civil War?

Abraham Lincoln.

21. Our neighbors to the north celebrate their Thanksgiving earlier — on the second Monday of which month?

October. That’s when Canada gives thanks.

22. The 1621 harvest feast remembered as the “first Thanksgiving” was shared by the Pilgrims and which Native American people?

The Wampanoag.

23. What large bird takes pride of place on the Thanksgiving table?

The turkey.

24. What tart little red berry, cooked down into a sauce, is a Thanksgiving must-have?

The cranberry.

25. Which department store has marched its giant balloons through New York City every Thanksgiving morning since 1924?

Macy’s.

26. Halloween is celebrated on the very last night of which month?

October — the 31st.

27. Halloween grew out of an ancient Celtic festival that marked the end of the harvest. What was it called?

Samhain.

28. A pumpkin hollowed out and lit with a candle in the window has a familiar name. What is it?

A jack-o’-lantern.

29. What do we call the custom of children going door to door in costume, asking for candy?

Trick-or-treating.

30. Germany’s famous autumn folk-and-beer festival, held in Munich, is called what?

Oktoberfest.

31. Oktoberfest began in 1810 to celebrate a royal wedding. In which German city is it still held every fall?

Munich.

32. In the Jewish calendar, which autumn harvest festival is spent in a small outdoor hut called a sukkah?

Sukkot.

33. China’s autumn celebration tied to the bright fall full moon is the Mid-Autumn Festival. By what other name is it known?

The Moon Festival.

34. India’s great festival of lights, celebrated in autumn, goes by what name?

Diwali.

Autumn in the Wider World

35. Baseball’s championship series, played every autumn, carries a seasonal nickname. It’s the “Fall” what?

The Fall Classic — the World Series.

36. The poet John Keats wrote an ode calling autumn the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.” What is that poem simply titled?

“To Autumn.”

37. Every fall, Eastern Canada and New England draw millions of visitors to see which natural display?

The autumn foliage — the blaze of fall color, sometimes called leaf-peeping.

38. In the United States, which Monday holiday in early September is treated as the unofficial end of summer?

Labor Day.

39. What two-word term describes a spell of unusually warm, calm weather that sometimes returns in late autumn?

Indian summer.

40. In many places, the clocks “fall back” an hour in autumn, bringing an end to what?

Daylight saving time — and that welcome extra hour of sleep.

Frequently asked questions

How do I use these questions with a group?

Read one aloud, give everyone a moment to call out a guess, then share the answer that sits right beneath it. The leaf and Thanksgiving questions tend to get the whole room reminiscing about their own autumns.

When does fall officially begin?

Astronomers mark the start of fall at the autumnal equinox, usually around September 22nd or 23rd in the Northern Hemisphere. By the weather calendar, many simply count September, October, and November as autumn.

Where can I find more trivia like this?

Plenty more is waiting. Try our trivia questions for seniors for a bit of everything, or take a trip back to the 1950s trivia for seniors.

Where do these facts come from?

Every date and detail above is drawn from the reputable sources listed just below, so you can double-check any answer that surprises you.

Sources

How many did you remember? Play our trivia quizzes and keep the good memories rolling.