Can You Find Your Keys? Trivia Quiz

Answer: ankh

The ankh was ubiquitous in Egyptian art, especially in situations where a god or goddess was conveying new life through conception, rite of passage, or reanimation after death. The Egyptians used other symbols connected with life, as well, but the crossed flail and crook symbolized royal power, a sistrum was a percussion instrument used in worship, and ushabtis were figures placed in the tomb of a ruler to serve as workers in the afterlife.

Answer: "Shema Yisrael" / mezuzah

"Shema (or "Sh'ma") Yisrael" are the first words of the verse: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is one" (Deuteronomy 6:9). The "mezuzah" strictly refers to the parchment on which the words are written by a scribe, but the case is often called a mezuzah, as well, when the scripture is inside it.

The Hebrew word "halakha" refers to ALL of the religious laws for Jews, including those in the Torah (usually counted as 613 commandments, not just ten) and in the Talmud and other rabbinic law. Manna was the food provided by the Lord in the wilderness journey after the Exodus from Egypt.

The Hebrew word "tehillah" is translated as "psalm" in English, while the word "selah" appears in the Bible only in the books of Psalms and Habakkuk and seems to indicate a rest in music, a pause for reflection, or an instrumental interlude.

The word "chai" (related to the blessing or toast "l-chaim" - to life), is a symbol composed of the letters chet (hard "h") and yod ("y"), often worn as a medallion.

Answer: False

Jahannam (Hell) has seven gates, while Jannah (Paradise) has eight. Referring to the fiery place of punishment, the Quran in Sura Hijr (15:44) states: "There are seven gates in it, and to each gate a portion of them has been allotted." In the context of the sura, the rebellious angel Iblis has been cast out of heaven because he refuses to bow down to Adam, so he vows to tempt all humans with the attractions of the present world so that they are damned forever, "except those of Your servants whom You have singled out for Yourself." [15:41].

The Quran does not give a number for the doors of heaven, but does mention them (7.40): "Surely (as for) those who reject Our communications and turn away from them haughtily, the doors of heaven shall not be opened for them, nor shall they enter the garden until the camel pass through the eye of the needle; and thus do We reward the guilty." According to hadith, there are eight doors of Jannah (heaven), for persons who are diligent in particular areas of devotion: Bâb uṣ-Ṣalâh ( prayer); Bâb ul-Ǧihâd (jihad); Bâb uṣ-Ṣadaqah (alms); Bâb ur-Rayyân (fasting); Bâb ul-Ḥaǧǧ (pilgrimage); Bâb ul-Kâẓimîn al-Ġayz w-al-ʿÂfîn ʿan in-Nâs (forgiving others and controlling one's anger); Bâb ul-ʾAymân (faith); and Bâb uḏ-Ḏikr (zeal in remembering God).

Answer: Janus

Our calendar month January is named for Janus, the god of beginnings, endings, transitions, and more. Because of his place at the border between human and divine, the name of Janus was invoked before addressing any of the other gods. Unlike most Roman gods, Janus does not have a Greek counterpart, leading many scholars to believe he was already a god in the Tuscan region before Rome was established, perhaps a Sabine deity.

In some versions of the mythology, Janus is the son of Aurora, the goddess of the dawn, and Orion, the celestial hunter.

His image can be seen on many ancient doorways, but the doors to his temple held special significance: when Rome was at war, the doors were open for sacrifice and the return of soldiers, but when Rome was at peace, the doors were closed.

Answer: hinge

Roman doors were hung on pivot hinges. Cardea is the goddess of these hinges and, as such, is a protector of the household, especially the children that live in the house. She also is associated with hawthorn branches that were thought to keep evil spirits away from babies.

In Book IV, Chapter 8, of "The City of God" St. Augustine bombards his audience with the triviality of Rome's "little gods" who have powers over very specific areas of life. He tellingly starts with the goddess of the Roman sewers, Cloacina, listing other less than glowing deities before declaring, "Nor do I yet recount them all, for I am sick of all this, though it gives them no shame." Of the gods of the doorways, he mocks, "Every one sets a porter at the door of his house, and because he is a man, he is quite sufficient; but these people have set three gods, Forculus to the doors, Cardea to the hinge, Limentinus to the threshold. Thus Forculus could not at the same time take care also of the hinge and the threshold." Of course, Augustine here forgets to mention Janus, a major god of the doorway and many other areas of life involving beginnings and transitions, who has delegated authority to these minor deities.

In the "Fasti" Ovid tells a story of Janus seducing Cardea (although Ovid uses a different name); Cardea made a game of teasing male gods then getting away, but Janus was able to catch her because of his ability to see both ways. Janus gives Cardea her pivotal position in the doorway as compensation for losing her virginity to him.

Answer: torii

A torii is an open gate, with columns and lower crossbars usually painted a bright red or red-orange and the uppermost lintel painted black. Most of us, if shown a photograph of one, would recognize it immediately as an image from Japan. The torii signifies a consecrated space, and people approaching a Shinto shrine may pass under several torii as they move deeper into the sacred landscape.

The word "torii" means something like "bird perch" and may reflect earlier, lost symbolism having something to do with birds; however, some scholars consider the symbolism of the gates to have come from outside of Japan, since similar gates are seen at early Buddhist sites in India and other places.

The word "honden" refers to the inner shrine where priests perform rites; "kami" are spirits; and "sakura" is a word for the cherry blossom.

Answer: Buddhism

The Great Stupa of Sanchi is part of a huge complex of such monuments on a hilltop in Madhya Pradesh, near Bhopal, India, and is a major site of Buddhist pilgimage. After being in ruins for 600 years, this site was rediscovered in 1818 and became an archaeological excavation; it is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Stupas are reliquaries, and can be small urns for cremated remains. Architectural stupas were originally dome-shaped mounds built on top of relics of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, who lived ca. 563-483 B.C., but they grew to symbolize the body of the Buddha himself, and different types of stupas came to commemorate events in his life and to celebrate his release from the wheel of existence. Pilgrims would enter through the open gateways, which serve as a transition between secular and sacred space, then walk around the mound as an act of worship.

There are eight types of stupas, one being the Stupa of Many Doors, which is connected with the Buddha's teachings about dharma and other religious precepts.

Answer: Yoruba

Eshu, often called Elegbara or Papa Legba, is a trickster who causes accidents and harm to humans, and this may be the reason he often is associated with the devil or evil one; however, he is usually seen as dangerous in a childlike and mischievous way.

Some Caribbean writers - Edward Kamau Brathwaite, for example - say that Eshu came to the islands and the Americas on the slave ships and that the limbo dance symbolizes his survival, along with that of the Africans in the diaspora. Like other orishas (spirits or deities) he has his origins in the religion of the Yoruba tribe in West Africa but is known in other parts of the world, especially the Caribbean. Eshu is a messenger to the other orishas and also delivers souls to the underworld, and therefore is the god of in-between spaces, like gates, doors, and crossroads.

While Egyptians and Zulu are African groups, they are not West African; Mesopotamians would be from the part of Asia now known as Iraq.

Answer: It is sealed shut.

The Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem celebrated on Palm Sunday is narrated in all four gospels (Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, John 12). Ezekiel 44:1-2 reads, "Then the man brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut.

The LORD said to me, 'This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it'" (NIV). The Golden Gate is located on the eastern side of the Temple Mount and faces the Kidron Valley and the Mount of Olives.

The part that can be seen now was built over the old city gate in the 6th-7th century A.D., either by the Byzantines or the Arabs; it was sealed shut in the 16th century by the Ottoman Turks, and a cemetery was placed in front of it.

However, few people of faith would see a sealed gate as a barrier for the Messiah.

Answer: "I am the door."

Jesus uses the image of sheep entering a shelter for the night through an opening that he calls a "door" (or "gate" in some translations). In the verses just preceding John 10:7, he has compared himself to the shepherd standing by the gate, rather than the "robber" who climbs over the fence to steal.

The sheep willingly follow the voice they know and have learned to trust, even though other shepherds are around, calling their sheep. One commentator explains that two different types of sheepfolds would have been known: one, a communal enclosure where several shepherds kept their livestock together; another, a makeshift enclosure that a shepherd might construct in a rural area.

In the second case, no gate was built, but a gap was left between the stones or branches.

The shepherd slept in the opening, and his body literally WAS the door (or gate) to the sheepfold.