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100 free Superstitions trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 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!
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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
In many cultures, gifting a knife is believed to symbolically cut the bond between giver and receiver. To counteract the bad luck, it is customary to exchange a symbolic coin, turning the gift into a purchase and avoiding the curse.
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, hung above doorways, features in the legend of Saint Dunstan?
Horseshoe
Saint Dunstan, a blacksmith before he became Archbishop of Canterbury, nailed a horseshoe to the Devil's hoof and only pulled it off once the Devil swore never to enter a house with one over the door.
Q 06Which bird is the subject of the rhyme 'One for sorrow, two for joy'?
Magpie
The rhyme grows out of British bird-omen lore that goes back to at least the early 16th century; a longer Lancashire version runs well past the familiar first lines.
Q 07Triskaidekaphobia is the fear or avoidance of which number?
Thirteen
Thirteen is the number; the same roots give paraskevidekatriaphobia, the specific dread of Friday the 13th.
Q 08Tetraphobia is common in East Asia because the word for four sounds close to which other word?
Death
Death: in Mandarin 'four' (sì) sounds like 'death' (sǐ), and the resemblance carries into the Sino-Japanese, Sino-Korean and Sino-Vietnamese numerals too.
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': the theatrical way of wishing luck without saying it is first attested in print in the 1930s, in Edna Ferber's 1939 memoir A Peculiar Treasure.
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 21The seafaring belief that killing an albatross brings disaster is famously referenced in which 1798 poem?
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
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 Italian popular culture, Friday the what is the unlucky date rather than the 13th?
17th
One explanation is that the Roman numeral XVII can be rearranged into VIXI, Latin for 'I have lived', an epitaph.
Q 16Which player's sale to the Yankees in 1920 began the Red Sox's 86-year title drought?
Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth, 'the Bambino', was sold to New York in the winter of 1919–20; Boston then went 86 years, from 1918 to 2004, without a World Series title.
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 20What is the single lamp superstition says must be left burning in an empty theatre?
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.
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 24Opal's reputation as an unlucky stone is traced to an 1829 novel by which author?
Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott: in his 1829 novel Anne of Geierstein a heroine's opal loses its fire and she dies, which turned a stone prized in the Middle Ages into an omen of ill 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: a sweep's handshake or kiss is held to bless the marriage, sweeps hire themselves out to attend weddings, and marzipan sweep figures are a New Year's luck gift in Germany.
Q 27What is the anatomical name for the fused collarbones that form a bird's wishbone?
Furcula
The furcula is the wishbone; two people pulling it with the larger piece winning a wish dates to the early 17th century, while the word wishbone is only recorded from 1860.
Q 28The palm-shaped hamsa amulet, worn against the evil eye, is also known as the hand of which figure?
Fatima
Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad: khamsa is Arabic for five, and in Sephardi Jewish usage the same amulet is called the Hand of Miriam.
Q 29The blue-and-white eye-shaped bead sold across Turkey to ward off the evil eye is called what?
Nazar
Nazar: the word is Arabic for 'sight' or 'glance'; in Greece the same blue-and-white charm is simply called máti, meaning 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.