50 free Lent trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free Lent trivia questions with answers. Lent is forty days that take forty-six, begins with last year's palm leaves and ends on a different day depending on who you ask. These 50 questions explain all of it: why Sundays are not counted, where the ashes come from, what 'shrove' actually means, and why fish never counted as meat. The quiz also covers everything attached to the season — Shrove Tuesday and the pancake race that supposedly began in 1445, Mardi Gras and its krewes, Carnival and the Latin phrase behind its name, Palm Sunday, and the Eastern Great Lent that starts on Clean Monday and counts its forty days the opposite way round. Every answer was checked against a primary reference before publication, so the rules, dates and terminology here are accurate rather than approximate. It works as a parish quiz, a classroom round, or a way to settle what exactly you are allowed to eat on a Friday.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The forty days of Lent echo which episode from the gospels?
Jesus fasting in the desert
The same number appears in the fasts of Moses and Elijah. All three fasts are described as preparation for their work.
Q 02Where does the name of the season come from?
An Old English term for spring
The word is lencten. It may refer to the lengthening of the days at that time of year.
Q 03Why are Sundays not counted as fasting days in Lent?
They are the Lord's Day
Every Sunday is treated as a small Easter. That is why the calendar count comes out at more than forty days.
Q 04In Roman Catholic practice, when does Lent end?
On the evening of Holy Thursday
The Mass of the Lord's Supper marks the point. Many Protestant and Western Orthodox traditions run it to Holy Saturday evening instead.
Q 05What are the three traditional pillars of Lent?
Prayer, fasting and almsgiving
They are meant to be taken up with renewed vigour for the season. Giving something up is a later popular addition.
Q 06What is the name for the practice of giving up a personal pleasure for the forty days?
A Lenten sacrifice
It is traditional rather than obligatory. Chocolate, alcohol and social media are the modern favourites.
Q 07How many days before Easter does Ash Wednesday fall?
46
The gap is longer than forty because Sundays are not counted as fast days. Easter itself moves with the moon.
Q 08Where do the ashes used on Ash Wednesday come from?
Burnt palms from last year
Churches collect the previous year's palms and burn them. The cycle links one year's Holy Week to the next.
Q 09Which words are said as the ashes are imposed?
Remember that you are dust
The alternative form is 'Repent, and believe in the Gospel'. Both are said while a cross is marked on the forehead.
Q 10What does the word behind Pancake Day's older English name mean?
To absolve through confession
Christians were shriven before the fast began. The pancakes are a practical side effect of the same custom.
Q 11Why are pancakes associated with the day before Lent?
They use up eggs, milk and butter
Rich foods had to be cleared out before the fast. That is also where pancake races come from.
Q 12Which English town claims a pancake race dating from 1445?
Olney
A housewife supposedly ran to church still holding her pan. The race is still held there every year.
Q 13How many days before Easter Sunday does Pancake Day fall?
47
Easter is a moveable feast tied to the cycles of the moon, so the date shifts each year. Ash Wednesday follows the next day.
Q 21Which trees have been substituted for palms in colder climates?
Box, olive, willow and yew
Procuring real palms was impossible in northern Europe. In parts of Britain the day was once called Willow Sunday.
Q 22On which day does Great Lent begin in Eastern Christianity?
Clean Monday
Ash Wednesday is not observed in the East at all. The season starts seven weeks before Pascha.
Q 23How does the Eastern count of the forty days differ from the Western one?
Sundays are included, Holy Week is not
The arithmetic is the mirror image of the Western scheme. Fasting continues through Holy Week regardless.
Q 14What does 'Mardi Gras' mean in French?
Fat Tuesday
It refers to the last day of eating rich, fatty food. The fast begins the following morning.
Q 15What are the social organisations that stage New Orleans Mardi Gras parades called?
Krewes
The first old-line one, the Mistick Krewe of Comus, formed in 1853. Each has its own parade, colours and traditions.
Q 16What does the word 'carnival' come from, in Late Latin?
Carne levare, to remove meat
The name announces the coming fast. The season runs through Shrove Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Q 17Which carnival is recognised by Guinness World Records as the largest in the world?
Rio de Janeiro
Venice was historically the most famous. The first modern parade in the Rhineland took place in Cologne in 1823.
Q 18Where did the first modern carnival parade take place, in 1823?
Cologne
The Rhineland tradition dates from there. Rio's became the biggest a century later.
Q 19What does the Sunday before Easter commemorate?
Christ's entry into Jerusalem
All four gospels describe it. It opens Holy Week, the last week of Lent in the West.
Q 20What happens to the branches distributed on that Sunday?
They are burnt to make next year's ashes
Churches collect them the following Shrovetide. The ashes go on foreheads on the first day of Lent.
Q 24Which foods are most commonly given up during Great Lent?
Meat, eggs, dairy and oil
It is a considerably stricter rule than the Western one. Shellfish is usually still allowed.
Q 25What happens on Forgiveness Sunday in the Eastern churches?
Believers forgive one another
Eastern Christians identify with Adam and Eve at a Forgiveness Vespers service. Great Lent begins the following morning.
Q 26When does the Eastern fast finally end?
After the Paschal Vigil
Fasting runs right through Passion Week. The break comes early in the morning of Pascha.
Q 27Which two days are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics?
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
Abstinence alone applies on other Fridays. The obligation is much lighter than it was a century ago.
Q 28From what age does the law of abstinence bind Catholics?
Fourteen
Fasting binds from majority until the beginning of the sixtieth year. Abstinence starts earlier and never stops.
Q 29How much may a Catholic eat on a fast day?
One full meal, two small ones
The two smaller meals together must not equal a full one. Drinking water and medicine are never restricted.
Q 30Under Catholic abstinence rules, which of these counts as meat?
Chicken
Birds count as meat because they are land animals. Fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are all permitted.