Superstitions
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147 free Superstitions trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
11 free superstitions trivia questions with answers. Discover the origins and meanings behind popular superstitions with our engaging trivia quiz. From black cats to broken mirrors, test your knowledge of beliefs and customs that have captivated cultures worldwide. See how many questions you can answer correctly!
30 of 147 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01According to popular superstition, how many years of bad luck will you experience if you break a mirror?
Seven
Seven years, a figure often tied to the old Roman idea that life renews itself in seven-year cycles, so a shattered reflection was thought to spoil the whole cycle.
Q 02Which curse is believed to be cast by a malicious or envious stare?
Evil Eye
The Evil Eye is a widespread supernatural belief in a curse brought about by a malevolent glare, usually inspired by envy. Amulets and talismans, often eye-shaped, are used to protect against it.
Q 03By superstition, what action 'undoes' the gift of a knife, thought to sever ties?
Exchanging a small coin
Exchanging a small coin: a knife given as a gift is said to cut the bond between giver and receiver, so the receiver hands back a coin, turning the gift into a purchase.
Q 04To avert the bad luck of spilled salt, a pinch of it is traditionally tossed over which shoulder?
The left
The left shoulder: the pinch is meant to hit the Devil, imagined lurking on the left (sinister) side. The belief that spilling salt is an ill omen goes back to ancient Rome.
Q 05Which lucky object features in the legend of Saint Dunstan?
Horseshoe
Horseshoe: in the legend Dunstan nails one to the Devil's foot and pulls it off only when the Devil promises never to enter a house with a horseshoe over the door.
Q 06Which bird is the subject of the rhyme 'One for sorrow, two for joy'?
Magpie
Magpie: the rhyme counts the birds as omens, and by English tradition a lone magpie is greeted or saluted to ward off the sorrow it is said to bring.
Q 07On the first day of Chinese New Year, which household chore is avoided so that good fortune isn't lost?
Sweeping the floor
Sweeping the floor: brooms are put away on New Year's Day so the newly arrived luck can't be swept out, after a thorough clean in the days before to clear away the old year's bad luck.
Q 08Across much of East Asia, buildings often skip floors with which number, whose word sounds like 'death'?
Four
Four: in Mandarin 'four' (sì) sounds like 'death' (sǐ), an echo shared by Japanese and Korean, so a building may jump from the third floor to the fifth or relabel the floor '3A'.
Q 09In Britain and Ireland, what does folk tradition say happens when a black cat crosses your path?
It brings good luck
It brings good luck: in British and Irish lore a black cat crossing your path is a lucky sign, the reverse of the ill omen it carries in much of continental Europe and the United States.
Q 10Performers avoid wishing each other good luck outright, and say what instead?
Break a leg
'Break a leg': stage superstition holds that wishing good luck outright invites the opposite, so performers wish for a mishap instead, much like the German 'Hals- und Beinbruch', 'neck and leg break'.
Q 11The lucky four-leaf clover is a rare mutation of a plant that normally has how many leaflets?
Three
Three: the clover genus name Trifolium means 'three-leaf', and a fourth leaflet is a rare developmental variant that folklore turned into a luck charm.
Q 12Which Norse god is said to have been the uninvited thirteenth guest at a Valhalla feast?
Loki
Loki: in the folk explanation of unlucky 13, he crashed a banquet of twelve gods and engineered Baldr's death by a mistletoe shot from the blind god Höðr.
Q 13Which order's mass arrest on Friday, October 13, 1307 is tied to the Friday the 13th superstition?
The Knights Templar
The Knights Templar: Philip IV of France had the order's members arrested on Friday 13 October 1307, though no record links Friday and 13 as jointly unlucky before the 19th century.
Q 21Which poem's narrator dooms his ship by shooting an albatross?
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge's narrator shoots the albatross and is forced by his shipmates to wear the dead bird around his neck.
Q 22Which fruit is traditionally considered bad luck to bring aboard a boat, especially a fishing yacht?
Bananas
Bananas: one rationalisation is that the ethylene they give off makes other produce ripen and spoil too quickly on a long voyage.
Q 23Seafarers call a person who brings bad luck to a voyage by the name of which biblical prophet?
Jonah
Jonah: in the Book of Jonah the prophet's shipmates throw him overboard to calm a storm sent on his account, so 'a Jonah' became any passenger who brings a voyage ill luck.
Q 14In Hispanic and Greek cultures, which day of the week paired with the 13th is considered unlucky, not Friday?
Tuesday
Tuesday: 'martes 13' in Spanish-speaking countries and Triti 13 in Greece. The day belongs to Mars/Ares, god of war, and Constantinople fell to the Ottomans on Tuesday 29 May 1453.
Q 15In Italy, which date makes a Friday unlucky rather than the 13th?
17th
17th: one explanation is that its Roman numeral, XVII, rearranges into VIXI, Latin for 'I have lived', which is to say 'my life is over'.
Q 16Which player's sale to the Yankees in 1920 began the Red Sox's 86-year title drought?
Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth: the drought was only branded the 'Curse of the Bambino' seventy years on, by Dan Shaughnessy's 1990 book, and the tale that his sale paid for the musical No, No, Nanette doesn't fit the dates.
Q 17From which ballpark were tavern owner William Sianis and his goat ejected in 1945, starting the Cubs' curse?
Wrigley Field
The goat, named Murphy, was bothering fans during Game 4 of the 1945 World Series at Wrigley Field; the Cubs went on to lose that Series to the Detroit Tigers.
Q 18Actors call which Shakespeare tragedy 'the Scottish play' to avoid saying its title inside a theatre?
Macbeth
Macbeth: saying the title inside a theatre is held to bring disaster, so actors say 'the Scottish play' or 'Mackers', and an offender must leave the room and perform a ritual before returning.
Q 19The taboo on whistling backstage traces to which group, who used coded whistles for scene changes?
Sailors
Sailors: early stage crews were hired from ships in port and used coded whistles to fly scenery, so a stray whistle could drop a backdrop on someone's head.
Q 20Which name is given to the lone bulb that superstition says must stay lit on an empty theatre stage?
Ghost light
The ghost light: a single bare bulb left burning on an empty stage, practical protection against stepping into the orchestra pit and, by lore, a courtesy to the theatre's ghosts.
Q 24Which gemstone gained its unlucky reputation from Sir Walter Scott's 1829 novel Anne of Geierstein?
Opal
Opal: in the novel a few drops of holy water quench an enchanted lady's opal, she collapses and is soon a heap of ashes, and readers began to link the stone with bad luck.
Q 25In the bridal rhyme, what coin goes in the bride's shoe after 'something blue'?
A sixpence
A sixpence: the rhyme ends 'and a silver sixpence in her shoe', a token of prosperity; the blue item stands for fidelity and the borrowed one should come from a happily married couple.
Q 26In Britain it is considered lucky for a bride to see which tradesperson on her wedding day?
A chimney sweep
A chimney sweep: many British sweeps still hire themselves out to attend weddings on the strength of the belief, and marzipan sweeps are a New Year's luck gift in Germany.
Q 27Which anatomical name is given to a bird's wishbone?
Furcula
Furcula: Latin for 'little fork', the bone flexes like a spring as the bird flies, and two people tug it apart so that whoever keeps the larger piece usually gets the wish.
Q 28The palm-shaped hamsa amulet, worn against the evil eye, is also known as the hand of which figure?
Fatima
Fatima: usually taken to be the Prophet Muhammad's daughter. The amulet's Arabic name, khamsa, means 'five', and Jews know it as the Hand of Miriam and Levantine Christians as the Hand of Mary.
Q 29The blue-and-white eye-shaped bead sold across Turkey to ward off the evil eye is called what?
Nazar
Nazar: the bead is meant to take the hit, so one that cracks is said to have absorbed a powerful evil eye and is replaced; Greeks call the same charm máti, 'eye'.
Q 30Omamori, small brocade-bagged amulets sold for luck, come from shrines in which country?
Japan
Japan: omamori are sold at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, mamori meaning protection; the brocade bag holds a prayer or inscription and is sold regardless of the buyer's religion.