Otherside Trivia Quiz

Answer: Styx

Souls were brought to Charon by Hermes, the messenger of the gods. Only those who were properly buried or burned and who paid an obolus, a silver coin, were accepted for passage.

Answer: Klingon

Klingons first appeared as an interstellar race in the original "Star Trek" television series in 1967. They were intended to be enemies of the human race, but eventually became allies.

Klingons had a code of honour and a 'heaven' and 'hell' - Sto-Vo-Kor and Gre'Thor. The fate of the deceased could be determined by the actions of living relatives.

Answer: Terry Pratchett

He also said: "Inside every sane person there's a madman struggling to get out" and "Pets are always a help in times of stress. And in times of starvation, too, of course."

This version of hell was imagined by Pratchett in "Eric", when the Wizard Rinceward and a 13-year-old demonologist called Eric visited a Hell that a demon king had revolutionised. Published in 1990, "Eric" was the ninth in the highly successful 'Discworld' series.

Answer: Egyptian

The Ancient Egyptians believed in a life after death and just what that eternal life offered depended on what a person did in their mortal days. They believed that, upon death, spirits went down into the underworld to become united with the gods Osiris and Ra. If they had done everything correctly, they would have eternal life in a blessed state.

To get there they had to successfully pass a series of tests and final judgment took place in the Hall of the Two Truths. The heart was placed on a scale to be weighed against the Feather of Ma'at - truth. If the spirit lied, the scale would weigh heavy and the soul was devoured by the beast Amemet. Truthful souls would pass the scales test and earn a plot of land for all eternity.

Answer: Valhalla

Valhalla was a majestic, hall located in Asgard, one of the Nine Worlds, and ruled over by the god Odin. Not all warriors ended up in Valhalla. Freya, goddess of love and death, took half of them to her own palace in the afterworld, Fólkvangr.

If you were not a warrior, too bad: your destination was a cold underworld called Niflheim.

I borrowed Fogarasch and Ostsiedlung from Saxon traditions.

Answer: Coyote

Caddo people believed that when the world was created, it was understood man would live forever. Which raises issues of what happens when someone pops their clogs (or any other euphemism for dying that you care to choose). The people all agreed that death should be temporary in order to reduce pain and sadness in the world.

The god Coyote disagreed, and said that human death should be permanent. He was outvoted, though, and it was decided that people would take take turns at being temporarily dead. The time would come for them to return to life and their spirits would be called into a small hut, where they would rise from the dead.

Legend is that Coyote blocked the entrance to the hut so that the first people to return to life could not leave it. Because they could not return to their land, their souls were forced to wander for eternity; thus death became permanent.

Answer: Irish

Tír na nÓg ("Land of the Young"), Tír na mBeo ("the Land of the Living"), and Mag Mell ("Delightful Plain") were among many names for the Otherworld. Irish mythology describes the Otherworld as a happy place where there is no illness, old age or death and happiness lasts forever. Being Celtic nations also, the Welsh and Ancient Gauls had their own versions of Otherworld.

Answer: Maori

The Mâori believe that the spirit travels to the Pohutukawa tree at the very tip of Cape Reinga, North Island, which is as far as man can go in New Zealand. The spirit then slides down a root into the sea below.

From there, the spirit emerges onto Ohaua, the highest tip of the Three Kings Islands, for a final farewell before rejoining the ancestors. After a person dies, Mâori people will not leave a body alone pending burial.

Answer: Jainism

Unlike the beliefs of some other religions, it is not judgment or punishment that sends a soul to Naraka, but it is the result of an individual's previous life actions. Nor is Naraka a place of permanent banishment, souls stay there for a finite time until until their karma reaches its final potential and they may then be reborn.

Answer: Dog and goat

The animals were told to stop Death reaching the people. However, they had a row. Goat insisted that dog would fall asleep. Dog insisted he would stay awake. After the row, goat stormed off home and - you guessed it - dog fell asleep and Death sneaked past him.