100 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 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which day marks the beginning of Holy Week?
Palm Sunday
It commemorates the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, described in all four canonical gospels, with crowds waving branches.
Q 02According to the Gospels, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on which animal?
A donkey
In Eastern tradition it was an animal of peace, unlike the horse of war; Matthew ties it to a prophecy in Zechariah.
Q 03Palms from the first day of Holy Week are burned to make ashes that open which season the next year?
Lent
Churches put out a basket in the narthex during Shrovetide, and the palms are burned on Shrove Tuesday.
Q 04In Russia, Ukraine and Poland, which plant stands in for palm fronds on Palm Sunday?
Pussy willow
Palms simply do not grow that far north, so box-tree twigs are also used.
Q 05Holy Tuesday is sometimes nicknamed after which fruit, from a tree Jesus passed near Bethany?
Fig
The barren tree became a teaching example for the disciples in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark.
Q 06Holy Wednesday is nicknamed "Spy Wednesday" because of whose actions?
Judas Iscariot
The word "spy" here carries the old sense of ambush or snare; it is the day he arranged the betrayal with the chief priests.
Q 07The Latin word behind "Maundy" in Maundy Thursday means what?
Commandment
Mandatum novum, "a new commandment I give to you," is what Jesus says in John 13 after washing the disciples' feet.
Q 08Which 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 09At 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 10Which liturgy, at which a bishop blesses the year's holy oils, is usually celebrated on Maundy Thursday morning?
The Chrism Mass
The oil of the sick, the oil of catechumens and sacred chrism all come from this one diocesan liturgy.
Q 11After the Gloria on Maundy Thursday, what happens to the church bells until the Easter Vigil?
They fall silent
The organ and other instruments are likewise used only to support singing until the Gloria returns on Saturday night.
Q 12The Maundy Thursday evening Mass opens which three-day period that runs to Easter Sunday evening?
The Paschal Triduum
Its three days are counted from the Mass of the Lord's Supper through Good Friday and Holy Saturday to Easter Sunday evening prayer.
Q 13What is the Filipino Maundy Thursday practice of praying at seven churches called?
Visita Iglesia
Q 21Which Gospel's Passion narrative is sung or read at the Roman Rite Good Friday liturgy?
John
The reading is often split among several voices, and Isaiah 53 on the Suffering Servant comes first.
Q 22What are the chants sung during the Veneration of the Cross, voicing Christ's remonstrance with his people, called?
The Reproaches
In Latin they are the Improperia; a crucifix is solemnly unveiled and the people venerate it on their knees.
Q 23The Stations of the Cross, prayed especially on Good Friday, consist of how many images?
Fourteen
Early Franciscan shrines varied from seven to thirty; the pope leads the devotion around the Colosseum with no images at all.
The name is simply Spanish for "church visit"; the faithful pray the Stations of the Cross at each stop.
Q 14Tenebrae, celebrated especially on Spy Wednesday, is distinctive for what happening during the service?
Candles being gradually extinguished
The name is Latin for "shadows" or "darkness"; a loud noise, the strepitus, ends the service in the dark.
Q 15In the Roman Rite Tenebrae, how many candles stood on the triangular stand called a hearse?
Fifteen
One went out after each of the nine psalms of matins and the five of lauds, leaving a single flame that was hidden, not snuffed.
Q 16In Old English the day was "langa frigedæg", echoed in Scandinavian languages. What does "langa" mean?
Long
The name referred to the lengthy fasting and services; the German Karfreitag comes from an Old High German word for sorrow.
Q 17In Germany, Good Friday is a "silent holiday" on which many states ban which activity?
Public dancing
Nightclubs close, film showings are restricted and even loud appliances like leaf blowers can be prohibited.
Q 18The 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 19Which sacrament is never celebrated in the Catholic Church on Good Friday?
Mass
Communion is still distributed, but from hosts consecrated at the previous evening's Mass of the Lord's Supper.
Q 20What colour vestments does a Catholic priest wear for the Good Friday liturgy?
Red
Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian churches keep black, which was Catholic practice too until 1970.
Q 24Where in Rome does the pope traditionally lead the Good Friday Way of the Cross?
The Colosseum
Since John Paul II the platform has been the heights of the Temple of Venus and Roma opposite the main entrance.
Q 25The "Three Hours Devotion" held in some churches on Good Friday is built around sermons on what?
The Seven Last Words
One sermon per saying, interspersed with singing, filling the hours Jesus is believed to have hung on the cross.
Q 26Which spiced bun is traditionally eaten on Good Friday in the UK?
Hot cross bun
In 1592 London's Clerk of Markets banned selling spiced buns except at burials, on Good Friday or at Christmas.
Q 27In 1592 London restricted spiced buns to Good Friday, Christmas and which other occasion?
Burials
Breaking the decree meant forfeiting the whole batch to the poor, so most were baked at home.
Q 28Bach's St Matthew Passion was probably first performed on Good Friday 1727 in which city?
Leipzig
It sets chapters 26 and 27 of Matthew for double choir and double orchestra and was revised again in the 1740s.
Q 29Which Bavarian village performs a Passion Play once a decade, fulfilling a 1633 plague vow?
Oberammergau
The vow was made on 28 October 1633; the play has run every decadal year since 1680 with only a few exceptions.
Q 30What are the lifelike Passion sculptures carried through Seville during Semana Santa called?
Pasos
In Málaga the same floats are called tronos and can weigh over five tonnes, carried by hundreds of bearers.