Holy Week Trivia
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97 free Holy Week trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Holy Week trivia quiz walks through the seven days from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday and the Easter Vigil that ends them. It covers what each day commemorates, where the odd names come from (why is it Maundy Thursday, why is Wednesday the Spy's, why is a day of mourning called Good Friday), and the liturgy that goes with it: palms burned into next year's ashes, the Tenebrae candles going out one by one, the bare altar, the Exsultet sung in a dark church. It also travels: the pasos of Seville and the tronos of Málaga, the Visita Iglesia in the Philippines, sawdust carpets in Guatemala, the Holy Fire in Jerusalem, Oberammergau's plague vow, Bach's Good Friday premiere and the royal purses of Maundy money. Roughly a third of the questions are easy enough for anyone who has sat through a Palm Sunday service, a third need some church background, and the rest reward people who know their Improperia from their Exsultet. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's liturgical and regional articles before publishing, and each question carries the sentence that establishes it. If you think one is wrong, use the report button and we will look again.
30 of 97 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which day marks the beginning of Holy Week?
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday opens Holy Week: it commemorates Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, told in all four Gospels, with crowds spreading cloaks and branches on the road.
Q 02According to the Gospels, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on which animal?
A donkey
A donkey: Matthew 21 has Jesus ride a donkey's colt into Jerusalem to fulfil Zechariah 9:9, the king coming 'humble and riding on a donkey', an animal of peace rather than a warhorse.
Q 03Ashes made by burning last year's Palm Sunday fronds open which liturgical season?
Lent
Lent: the previous year's Palm Sunday fronds are burned to make the ashes imposed on Ash Wednesday, the day that opens the forty-day season of Lent.
Q 04In Russia, Ukraine and Poland, which plant stands in for palm fronds on Palm Sunday?
Pussy willow
Pussy willow: palms do not grow that far north, so willow branches with catkins are blessed instead, and Russians call the day Willow Sunday (Verbnoye voskresenye).
Q 05Holy Wednesday is nicknamed "Spy Wednesday" because of whose actions?
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot: 'spy' here carries the old sense of ambush or snare, and tradition places on this day his bargain with the chief priests for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-16).
Q 06The Latin word behind "Maundy" in Maundy Thursday means what?
Commandment
Commandment: Maundy comes from Latin mandatum, as in mandatum novum, 'a new commandment I give to you', Jesus's words at the Last Supper in John 13:34.
Q 07Which ceremony do Catholic and Lutheran parishes traditionally perform on Maundy Thursday?
Foot washing
In 2016 the Roman Missal was revised so that women could be among the twelve people whose feet are washed.
Q 08At the Royal Maundy service, the number of people who receive Maundy money is determined by what?
The sovereign's age
The white purse holds one penny for each year of the sovereign's age; the red purse holds ordinary money in place of food and clothing.
Q 09Which Mass do a bishop and his priests usually celebrate on Maundy Thursday morning?
The Chrism Mass
The Chrism Mass: the bishop consecrates the sacred chrism and blesses the oil of the sick and the oil of catechumens there, supplying his whole diocese for the year.
Q 10After the Gloria on Maundy Thursday, what happens to the church bells until the Easter Vigil?
They fall silent
They fall silent: bells are rung during the Gloria of the Mass of the Lord's Supper and then not again until the Gloria of the Easter Vigil; the organ likewise only supports singing meanwhile.
Q 11The Maundy Thursday evening Mass opens which liturgical period that ends on Easter Sunday evening?
The Paschal Triduum
The Paschal Triduum: Latin for 'three days', it runs from the Mass of the Lord's Supper through Good Friday and Holy Saturday to Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday.
Q 12What is the staged Passion play performed in Philippine towns during Holy Week called?
Senakulo
Senakulo: the Philippine Passion play, named from Spanish cenáculo (the Upper Room), dramatises Christ's trial, suffering and death on stages and streets during Holy Week.
Q 13What is stripped bare in Catholic churches after the Maundy Thursday evening Mass?
The altar
Q 21Which Good Friday chants have Christ ask his people, 'What have I done to you'?
The Reproaches
The Reproaches (Latin Improperia): 'My people, what have I done to you?' is sung as the faithful come forward to venerate the unveiled cross on Good Friday.
Q 22The Stations of the Cross, prayed especially on Good Friday, consist of how many images?
Fourteen
Fourteen: Pope Clement XII fixed the number of stations at fourteen in 1731, after earlier Franciscan sets had ranged from seven to over thirty.
Q 23Where in Rome does the pope traditionally lead the Good Friday Way of the Cross?
The Colosseum
The Colosseum: Paul VI revived the Good Friday Via Crucis there in 1964, and popes since have presided from a platform facing the amphitheatre's arches.
The altar: after the Mass of the Lord's Supper the altar is stripped of its cloths, candles and ornaments, and crosses are removed or veiled, leaving the church bare for Good Friday.
Q 14In the Roman Rite Tenebrae, how many candles stood on the triangular stand called a hearse?
Fifteen
Fifteen: one candle was put out after each of the nine psalms of Matins and the five of Lauds, and the fifteenth was hidden behind the altar, not snuffed, then brought back lit.
Q 15What does the 'Kar' in Karfreitag, the German name for Good Friday, mean?
Sorrow
Sorrow: Karfreitag pairs Freitag with Old High German kara, meaning mourning or lament, so the name is literally 'sorrowful Friday'; English instead calls the day Good Friday.
Q 16In Germany, Good Friday is a "silent holiday" on which many states ban which activity?
Public dancing
Public dancing: Germany's Tanzverbot shuts dance floors and nightclubs on Good Friday in every state, with some also restricting film showings and sporting events on the 'silent holiday'.
Q 17The Celebration of the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday is ideally held at what time?
3 pm
That is the traditional ninth hour of Jesus' death; in the Philippines noise is discouraged after 3 pm and stations go off air.
Q 18Which sacrament is never celebrated in the Catholic Church on Good Friday?
Mass
Mass: no Mass is celebrated on Good Friday or Holy Saturday; the afternoon liturgy distributes Communion from hosts consecrated at the previous evening's Mass of the Lord's Supper.
Q 19What colour vestments does a Catholic priest wear for the Good Friday liturgy?
Red
Red: since the 1970 Roman Missal the priest wears red on Good Friday, the colour of the Passion and of martyrs; before that the Catholic colour was black.
Q 20Which Gospel's Passion narrative is sung or read at the Roman Rite Good Friday liturgy?
John
John: the Roman Rite Good Friday liturgy always reads John's Passion narrative (18:1-19:42), often split among several voices, after a first reading from Isaiah 52-53 on the Suffering Servant.
Q 24The "Three Hours Devotion" held in some churches on Good Friday is built around sermons on what?
The Seven Last Words
The Seven Last Words: the Tre Ore devotion, begun by Jesuits in Lima in the seventeenth century, gives one meditation to each saying from the cross during the three hours Jesus hung there.
Q 25Which spiced bun is traditionally eaten on Good Friday in the UK?
Hot cross bun
Hot cross bun: the spiced, currant-studded bun scored or piped with a cross is eaten on Good Friday, the cross standing for the crucifixion.
Q 26In 1592 London restricted spiced buns to Good Friday, Christmas and which other occasion?
Burials
Burials: the 1592 decree of London's Clerk of Markets allowed spiced buns only at burials, on Good Friday and at Christmas, with offending batches forfeited to the poor.
Q 27Bach's St Matthew Passion was probably first performed on Good Friday 1727 in which city?
Leipzig
Leipzig: Bach, the city's Thomaskantor, first gave the St Matthew Passion at the Thomaskirche on Good Friday, 11 April 1727, setting Matthew 26-27 for double choir and orchestra.
Q 28Which Bavarian village performs a Passion Play once a decade, fulfilling a 1633 plague vow?
Oberammergau
Oberammergau: villagers vowed in 1633 to stage the Passion every ten years if spared the plague; the first play followed in 1634 and decadal years have been kept since 1680.
Q 29What are the lifelike Passion sculptures carried through Seville during Semana Santa called?
Pasos
Pasos: Seville's brotherhoods carry these sculpted Passion scenes on the shoulders of costaleros hidden beneath the float; Málaga calls its far larger versions tronos.
Q 30The tall pointed hood that hides the face of a Spanish Holy Week penitent is called what?
Capirote
Capirote: the cone-shaped hood, stiffened with cardboard beneath the cloth, hides the penitent's face so that the act of penance stays anonymous; the hooded marchers are called nazarenos.