When historians were interested in the question of who invented playing cards, the invention was attributed to the artist Jacqueline Grangonner. It was believed that in the 14th century, a Frenchman painted pictures on sheets of cardboard to entertain Charles VI, who suffered from mood swings.
However, it turned out that the cards are much younger. They are mentioned in earlier documents, which deal with the prohibition of card games for clergy. In fact, analogs of modern maps appeared in East Asia.
Ancient maps
The Tang Dynasty sources say about the prototype of cards, oblong leaves, it is 618-917. Even before that, similar rectangular tablets were made from other materials: bone, wood, bamboo. In India, cards called ganjifa were round in shape. The Japanese played uta-garutu, where instead of a deck they used mussel shells with various patterns.
Playing cards, as close as possible to modern ones, were already used in Korea and the Middle Kingdom in the XII century. It is believed that from there they got to India, then Persia, Egypt and only then to Europe.
For a long time, proud Europeans denied the Muslim credit for inventing cards. But the Arabs had their own deck, something like tarot cards. Consisted of 22 trump cards of four suits and 56 minor arcana. The Koran forbade drawing people, so only ornaments, the so-called arabesques, were applied. The suits were cups, swords, staves and pentacles in the form of coins.
Maps in Europe
Arab sailors and traders brought the cards to Europe. In ancient chronicles, they are mentioned since 1367. As a rule, all card entries refer to the ban. But since the 16th century, the aristocracy has not hesitated to welcome their image in their portraits.
It was Grangonner who managed to improve the pictures, depicting figures on the cards that have practically not changed to this day.
Each card depicting a person has a historical prototype. The king of spades is the biblical David, the king of diamonds is Julius Caesar, the king of clubs is Alexander the Great. But in the days of Grangonner, they were also correlated with someone from their contemporaries. For example, the queen of spades is Athena (aka Joan of Arc), the queen of diamonds is Rachel (in France she was painted from the beautiful Agnes Sorel), the queen of hearts is Elena Troyanskaya (Isabella of Bavaria), the club of clubs is Argina (the wife of Charles VII Maria). Four brave royal knights became jacks, i.e. squires.
The inanimate dignity was endowed with military metaphorical meanings. Worms were made a symbol of courage, tambourines with spades symbolized weapons, clubs - food supplies. The most valuable card, the ace, became the epitome of money.
In Russia, cards have come into use since about 1600. There is a version that the Ukrainian Cossacks played them much earlier, borrowing from the Germans. Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich showed severity, for card games they were punished with torture with a red-hot iron and pulling out nostrils. But under Peter the Great, two small factories for the production of cards were opened in Moscow, the merchants had the opportunity to make good money.
Back then, cards were made of poor quality paper. To somehow increase its strength, it was rubbed with talcum powder. When shuffling, such sheets slid, since then the name "satin" has stuck.
Satin maps were well known in the USSR. Fortunately, progress does not stand still, and today there are more durable options, plastic coated or 100% plastic.
Description
Card decks are available in full and abbreviated form. Separate plastic and satin (high quality paper).
Full deck
A complete deck consists of 54 cards: aces, twos, threes, fours, fives, sixes, sevens, eights, nines, tens, jacks, queens, kings and two jokers.
A complete deck is suitable for all card games.
Reduced deck
The shortened deck contains 36 cards. The minimum card is six. There are no jokers in the short deck.
The shortened deck is suitable for most card games.
Standard deck options
A standard deck consists of 54 cards:
- 52 basic cards are characterized by one of four suits(two colors) and one of 13 merits.
- 2 special cards, the so-called jokers, usually differing in design.
Card deck:
- 54 cards (maximum deck, starts from aces to joker)
- 52 cards (deck, starts from twos to ace),
- 48 cards (deck, starts from threes to ace),
- 44 cards (middle deck, starts from fours to ace),
- 40 cards (deck, starts from fives to ace),
- 36 cards (deck, starting from sixes to ace),
- 32 cards (minimum deck, starts from sevens to ace).
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Other types of decks
Different countries use different decks. The most famous:
- Standard deck
Suits
The names of the suits (only the first indicated is literary):
- ♠ - spades (blame, blame)
- ♣ - clubs (crosses, crosses, acorns, fat)
- - worms (worms, fats, love)
- ♦ - tambourines (tambourines, tambourines, bells).
Cards of spades and clubs are called black, and hearts and diamonds are called red.
In other languages
English names of cards and suits
- Clubs - clubs
- Diamonds - diamonds
- Hearts - hearts
- Spades - spades
Advantages:
- "B" = "J" - Jack
- "D" = "Q" - Queen
- "K" = "K" - King
- "T" = "A" - Ace
Cards under ten are named by their numerical designation (two, three, .. ten), and also by nicknames: two - "deuce", three - "trey".
French names for cards and suits
- Clubs - trèfles
- Tambourines - carreaux
- Hearts - cœurs
- Spades - piques
Advantages:
- "B" = "V" - Valet
- "D" = "D" - Dame
- "K" = "R" - Roi
- "T" = "A" - As
Polish names for cards and suits
- Clubs - trefl, żołądź [trefl, zhóўondzh]
- Tambourines - karo, dzwonek [karo, dzwonek]
- Hearts - czerwień, kier [cherven, ker]
- Peaks - pik, wino [peak, wine]
Advantages:
- "B" = "J" - walet, Jopek [valet, yopek]
- "D" = "Q" - dama [dama]
- "K" = "K" - król [krul]
- "T" = "A" - As [ac]
The values
All Maps
- Numeric ( foci) (9): two (notation 2 ), three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
- Pictures, broadway cards ( figures or honors, from the English. honor - honor) (3): jack (designation V or J- English. Jack), lady (designation D or Q- English. Queen), king (notation TO or K- English. King), ace (designation T or A- English. Ace).
The accepted order (seniority, sequence) of cards: ace (lowest card), two, three, ..., king, joker. In many games, the ace is the highest card. In some games, the order of the cards is different. For example, in the German deck and the Italian-Spanish deck, queens are completely absent, their place is taken by "high jacks" or horsemen. In the card game "Small Taroks" there is a deck that is, in fact, a complete set of the Small Arcana of the Tarot, but with the European designation of suits. Almost every year, new decks of cards appear on the market, differing in small details from the classic ones, both in the number of honors and in the color designation, the number of suits may also be different. The shape of the cards themselves can also be very diverse: round and oval playing cards will surprise no one! The shape is most often just close to symmetrical, from an equilateral triangle to amoeba-like.
High cards
| № | Fig. | Name | Description and meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joker | The card depicts a jester - color or black and white. The strongest card in the deck. | |
| 2 |  |
Ace | The card shows one suit sign and two letters "T" |
| 3 |  |
King (playing) card |
|
| 4 |  |
Lady | Each of the ladies is depicted in a red dress and shawl. In their hands they have a flower each, and a crown is put on their head. |
| 5 |  |
Jack | Each jack has a shirt and a hat. They hold halberds in their hands. |
Links
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See what a "deck of playing cards" is in other dictionaries:
This term has other meanings, see Museum of Playing Cards. Coordinates: 59 ° 52'57.32 ″ s. sh. 29 ° 54'39.44 "in. d. / 59.882589 ° N w ... Wikipedia
Main article: Tarot cards Cards of a typical tarot deck ... Wikipedia
DECK, decks, wives. 1. A short thick log, a stump of a log. || The same as adaptation to various industries and economic purposes (special). Deck for leatherworking. The deck is part of a carpentry workbench. Deck of lintel above the door. 2. ... ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
1. DECK, s; f. 1. Short thick log; the thick trunk of a fallen tree. Only rotten logs remained instead of the forest. Enough to lie like K. 2. A stump of such a log, adapted for what l. needs. Chop meat on a deck. Chop wood for ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
KOLODA, s, wives. 1. A short, thick log. Oak k. 2. A kind of wooden trough with a hollowed out middle. Vodopochnaya k. 3. perev. About a fat, clumsy man (simple neod.). Through the stump the deck (cut) (colloquial) to do what n. something like ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
Playing cards are rectangular sheets of cardboard or thin plastic used for card games. A complete set of playing cards for the game is called a deck of cards. Cards are also used for magic and fortune telling. On one side of the card (open), ... ... Wikipedia
deck- DECK, s, g. A set of playing cards. ◘ A poet who described a deck of cards better than other trees is not always taller than his opponent. K.F. Ryleev. Letter to A.S. Pushkin, 1825. ◘ Seriously, indifferent // The decks were exchanged by his obedient villain // ... ... 19th century card terminology and jargon
deck- I s; f. see also. log 1) Short thick log; the thick trunk of a fallen tree. Only rotten logs remained instead of the forest. Stop lying like a colo / yes. 2) A stump of such a log, adapted for what l. needs. Chop meat on a deck. ... ... Dictionary of many expressions
Playing cards are famous all over the world. But no one knows where and when they appeared. Some medieval theologians considered them a "devilish invention" that Satan invented to multiply human sins. The more sane argued that this could not be, because initially the cards were used for fortune telling and other magical rituals, that is, for knowing the will of God.
As evidence, very curious evidence was cited, which will certainly be of interest to everyone who has ever picked up a satin deck. According to one version, the invention of cards was attributed to the ancient Egyptian god Thoth - the ancestor of writing, counting and calendar. With the help of cards, he told people about the four components of the universe - fire, water, air and earth, which personify the four card suits. Much later, in the Middle Ages, the Jews-Kabbalists concretized this ancient message. According to them, the suits embody four classes of elemental spirits: tambourines - the fire spirits of salamanders, worms - the lords of the air elements of the sylphs, clubs - the water spirits of undines and pikes - the lords of the underworld of the gnomes.
Other medieval mystics believed that the cards symbolized four "main aspects of human nature": the suit of hearts represents love; clubs the pursuit of knowledge; tambourines a passion for money, and peaks warn of death. The extraordinary variety of card games, the complex logic of relationships and subordination, the alternation of ups and downs, sudden failures and amazing luck reflects our life in all its complexity and unpredictability. This is where the bewitching power of excitement comes from, lurking in them to the great indignation of the Puritans and bigots of all times and peoples, in this sense, neither chess, nor dominoes, and indeed no other games, can be compared with cards.
However, no less curious is the version according to which the maps allegedly reflect ... time. Indeed, red and black are consonant with the concept of day and night. 52 leaves correspond to the number of weeks in a year, and not everyone understands the joker also symbolizes a leap year. The four suits are quite consistent with spring, summer, autumn and winter. If each jack is estimated at 11 points (it goes right after the ten), the queen is at 12, the king is at 13, and the ace is taken as one, then the sum of points in the deck will be 364. Adding the "single" joker, we get the number of days in a year ... Well, the number of lunar months - 13 corresponds to the number of cards of each suit.
If we descend from the transcendental-foggy heights of mysticism to the soil of reality, then the most probable are two versions of the origin of the cards. According to the first, they were created by the Indian Brahmins around 800 AD. Another version says that the cards appeared in China in the 8th century during the reign of the Tang dynasty. The fact is that paper money served the subjects of the Celestial Empire not only for settlements, but also for gambling. In addition to digital nominations, the banknotes depicted emperors, their wives, and provincial governors, which signified the denomination of a particular bill. And since the players did not always have enough banknotes, they used duplicates drawn on sheets of paper instead, which eventually supplanted real money from games.
The time of the appearance of the maps in Europe is just as uncertain, although most historians agree that most likely they were brought with them by the participants of the crusades in the XI-XIII centuries. True, it is possible that this subject of excitement appeared on our continent as a result of the invasion of Italy in the 10th century by the Saracens, as the Arabs were then called, from whom the locals borrowed cards. In any case, in 1254, Saint Louis issued an edict prohibiting, on pain of punishment with a whip, card games in France.
In Europe, the Arabic original has undergone significant revision, since the Qur'an forbade the faithful to paint images of people. Presumably the birthplace of cards with figures of kings, queens and squires - jacks was France, where at the turn of the XIII-XIV centuries the artist Gregonner painted cardboard sheets for Charles VI.
The earliest known European tarot card deck (sometimes called Tarot or Tarok - ed.) Was made in the XIV century in Lombardy. It had four suits, depicted as bowls, swords, money and wands or clubs. Each suit consisted of ten cards with numbers and four pictures: king, queen, knight and squire. In addition to these 56 cards, it included 22 more trump cards with numbers from 0 to 21, bearing the following names: jester, magician, nun, empress, emperor, monk, lover, chariot, justice, hermit, fate, strength, executioner, death, temperance, devil, inn, star, moon, sun, peace and judgment.
As the popularity of card games in Europe grew throughout the 14th century, all the trump cards and the four knights gradually disappeared from the Tarot deck. True, the jester remained, renamed in our days in the "joker". The complete decks were preserved only for fortune telling.
There were several reasons for this. Firstly - the desire to separate the world of excitement from the mysteries of occultism and magic. Then, the rules of games with so many cards were too hard to memorize. And finally, the fact that before the invention of the printing press, cards were marked and painted by hand, and therefore they were very expensive. Therefore, in order to save money, the deck "lost weight" to the current 52 cards.
As for the designation of suits, then from the original Italian system with its swords - an analogue of future peaks, clubs - clubs, cups - worms and coins - boo-bey, later three emerged: the Swiss one with acorns, roses, leaves and heraldic shields; German with acorns, leaves, hearts and bells, and French with clubs, spades, hearts and tambourines. The most stable was the French system of depicting suits, which, after the Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648), supplanted the rest of the symbolism and is now used almost everywhere.
Over the next 300 years, more than one artist tried to introduce new card symbols into everyday life. From time to time, decks appeared in which four suits were presented in the form of animals, plants, birds, fish, household items, dishes. At the very beginning of this process in Germany, suits were depicted in the form of caskets for church donations, a comb, bellows and a crown. Allegorical figures of Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood and Health appeared in France. Later, adherents of socialism even tried to issue cards with images of presidents, commissars, industrialists and workers. However, all these "inventions" turned out to be too artificial and therefore never took root. But with picture cards, things turned out differently.
Today, rarely any of the players are interested in the biographies of long-disappeared characters of card figures, and the drawings on picture cards in modern decks bear little resemblance to real-life personalities. This is nothing more than a stylization of stylizations, infinitely far from the original originals. Meanwhile, initially, for example, four kings symbolized the legendary heroes-rulers of antiquity, whom Europeans could admire in the Middle Ages: Charlemagne, King of the Franks, headed the red suit, the shepherd and singer David - the peak suit, because thanks to his exploits he became the legendary Hebrew king; Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great were respectively given the tambourine and clubs suits.
True, in some decks the king of hearts was alternately depicted as a hairy Esau, then Constantine, then Charles I, then Victor Hugo, then the French general Boulanger. And yet, in the dispute over the possession of the crown, Charlemagne won a bloodless victory. Modern cards lovingly, practically unchanged, preserve the heroic features of this illustrious husband in the form of a wise old man wrapped in an ermine mantle - a symbol of wealth. In his left hand he has a sword - a symbol of courage and power.
The image of David was originally decorated with a harp - as a reminder of the musical talent of the legendary king of Judea. During the Napoleonic Wars, the king of peak was briefly depicted as Napoleon Bonaparte in France and the Duke of Wellington in Prussia. But then justice prevailed and David again took his rightful place among the royal royal persons.
Although Julius Caesar was never king, he also entered the crowned Areopagus. He was usually painted in profile, and on some old French and Italian maps, Caesar was depicted with an outstretched hand, as if he intended to grab something. This should have meant that the suit of diamonds was traditionally identified with money and wealth.
Alexander the Great is the only one of the kings of cards, in whose hand the power of the symbol of the monarchy was put. True, on modern maps it is often replaced by a sword - as evidence of his military leadership talents. Unfortunately, the appearance of the king of clubs has become a victim of ruthless fashion and from a courageous hero with a fierce look he turned into a pampered courtier with a dapper beard and elegant mustache.
The first lady of worms was Elena Troyanskaya. In addition to her, Elissa, the founder of Carthage, in Roman mythology - Dido, Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I of England, Roxanne, Rachel and Fausta played the role of contenders for this throne. decks to deck.
As for the lady of spades, it was customary to portray her in the form of the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, Athena Pallas. True, the Teutons and Scandinavians gave preference to their own mythological characters who personified the war.
In the XIV-XV centuries, artists could not agree on who to choose as the prototype for the lady of the tambourine. The only exception was France, where they became the queen of the Amazons, in Greek mythology - Panfiselia. In the 16th century, someone gave the lady a tambourine the features of Rachel, the heroine of the biblical legend about the life of Jacob. Since, according to legend, she was a greedy woman, her role as "queen of money" was to the taste of the general public, and she established herself on this throne.
For a long time, none of the mythological or historical heroines pretended to be the lady of clubs. Sometimes the decks flashed the figures of the ruler of Troy Hecuba or Florimela, the personification of female charm created by the talent of the English poet Spencer. But they failed to establish themselves in this role. In the end, the French came up with the idea to portray the lady of clubs in the form of a sort of, as they say now, sex bomb and call her Argina (from the Latin word "regina" - "regal"). The idea turned out to be so successful that it took root and became a tradition. Moreover, all the queens, the next favorites and mistresses of the French monarchs, the heroines of evil libels and frivolous witticisms, began to bear the name of Argin.
Initially, four nameless knights played the role of jacks. Although the name of this card is translated rather as "servant, lackey", and among players this figure was traditionally identified with an adventurer who does not always respect the law, but is alien to low cunning. This interpretation of the word "jack" perfectly matches the image of the jack of hearts. Trying to choose a worthy image for him, the French opted for the famous historical character - Etienne de Vignele, who served in the troops of Charles VII. He was a valiant warrior, brave, generous, ruthless and sarcastic. For some time he was an adviser to Jeanne d'Arc and was preserved in the memory of descendants as a hero of folklore, like Thiel Ulenspiegel, William Tell and Robin Hood. Perhaps that is why, without any objections from other nations, Etienne de Vignel firmly took the place of the Jack of Hearts.
The prototype for Jack of Spades was Ogier Danish. According to historical records, in numerous battles, his weapons were the two blades of Toledo steel, which were usually painted on this map. In numerous legends, this hero performed numerous feats: he defeated the giants, returned their possessions to the bewitched princes, and he himself enjoyed the patronage of the fairy Morgana, the sister of the fairy king Arthur, who, having become engaged to Gier, gave him eternal youth.
The first jack of the tambourine was Roland, the legendary nephew of Charlemagne. However, later, for no apparent reason, he was replaced by Hector de Marais, one of the Knights of the Round Table and half-brother of Sir Lancelot. At least, this particular hero is today associated with the jack of tambourines, although the famous nobility of the knight de Marais does not fit well with the notoriety attributed to this jack.
Sir Lancelot himself, the eldest of the Knights of the Round Table, was chosen as the jack of clubs of card business. It was originally the brightest of the jacks. But gradually the manner of drawing changed, and the jack of clubs lost its luxurious jacket, although in his hands he still had a bow, a symbol of his unsurpassed skill as an archer. However, in the modern jack of clubs it is difficult to recognize that mighty warrior who, being wounded in the thigh by an arrow, nevertheless managed to defeat thirty knights ...
Such is the gallery of family portraits that none of the players suspects when they pick up a satin deck.
It often happens with the player:
Sat down as a rich man - got up as a poor man.
Who took the cards, deceived by profit,
Tom does not know the game is happy.
Gambling is sinful:
It is not given to us by God, -
Satan invented it!
Sebastian BRANT. 1494 g.
Have you ever asked yourself the question: What do the suits of playing cards mean? Where did the names come from - jack, ace, clubs, spades, hearts, etc. If - yes! Then this article is for you. Especially impressionable, please do not read)
A few words about the history of the issue:
There are 3 versions of the origin of the cards:
1. First - chinese, although many still do not want to believe in it. Chinese and Japanese cards are too unusual for us both in appearance and in the nature of the game, which is more like dominoes. However, there is no doubt that already in the 8th century in China, first sticks were used for games, and then strips of paper with the designations of various symbols. These distant ancestors of cards were also used in place of money, so they had three suits: a coin, two coins, and a lot of coins. And in India, playing cards depicted the figure of the four-armed Shiva, who was holding a goblet, sword, coin and rod. Some believe that these symbols of the four Indian classes gave rise to modern card suits.
2. Egyptian version of the origin of the cards, replicated by the latest occultists. They argued that in ancient times, the Egyptian priests wrote down all the wisdom of the world on 78 gold tablets, which were also depicted in the symbolic form of maps. 56 of them - "Minor Arcana" - became ordinary playing cards, and the remaining 22 "Major Arcana" became part of the mysterious Tarot deck used for fortune-telling. This version was first published in 1785 by the French occultist Etteila, and his successors Eliphas Levi and Dr. Papus and the English Mathers and Crowley created their own systems for interpreting Tarot cards. The name is allegedly derived from the Egyptian "ta rosh" ("path of the kings"), and the cards themselves were brought to Europe either by the Arabs, or by the gypsies, who were often considered immigrants from Egypt. True, scientists have not been able to find any evidence of such an early existence of the Tarot deck.
3. European version... (We will dwell on it in more detail - it is considered the main one). Common maps appeared on the European continent no later than the XIV century. Back in 1367 in the city of Bern, the card game was banned, and ten years later, the shocked papal envoy watched with horror as the monks enthusiastically cut cards at the walls of their monastery. In 1392, Jacques Gringonner, the jester of the mentally ill French King Charles VI, drew a deck of cards to amuse his master. The then deck differed from the current one in one detail: it had only 32 cards. There were four ladies missing, whose presence seemed then unnecessary. Only in the next century did Italian artists begin to depict Madonnas not only in paintings, but also on maps.
4. Occult... According to the writer S.S. Narovchatova, under Ivan the Terrible a certain Chercelli appeared in Moscow. Churchlli, in Italy he was called French, in France - German, in Germany - Pole, and in Poland - became Russian. He brought to Moscow a chest wrapped in a shawl, black with red streaks, which seemed to correspond to the colors - black and red. Cards began to be in demand. At first, the authorities were tolerant of practicing cards, but then they began to persecute them, since they saw the interference of evil spirits here. Of the legislative monuments about cards, he first mentions the Code of 1649, which prescribes with the card players "as it is written about tats" (thieves), i.e. beat mercilessly, cut off fingers and hands. Decree of 1696. it was introduced to search all those suspected of wanting to play cards "and from whom the cards are taken out, beat with a whip." In 1717. it is prohibited to play cards under the threat of a monetary fine. In 1733. for repeat offenders, a prison, or batogs, is defined.
So what do the suits and meanings of the cards mean?
The structure of a deck of cards is known to everyone: ace, king, queen, jack, even lower tens, nines, and so on up to sixes or up to twos in a full deck - a typical hierarchical ladder from the highest to the lowest:
The Joker is a frivolous figure in tights, a buffoon's cap, bells ... And in his hands is a scepter with a human head strung on it, which is now replaced by humane artists with musical "cymbals". In pre-revolutionary stage performances, a similar character was called Fradyavolo. "Joker" is above all, it has no suit and is considered the strongest in the game. Thus, at the top of the pyramid is not the King, but Daus ...
Ace is a word of Polish origin from the German Daus. The German-Russian dictionary indicates the meaning of the word: Daus - devil. It is quite possible that Daus is a variant of the distortion of the Greek diabolos - a defamator.
King. Interestingly, all of the card images had real or legendary prototypes. For example, four kings are the greatest monarchs of antiquity: Charlemagne (worms), the biblical king David (spades), Julius Caesar (tambourines) and Alexander the Great (clubs).
There was no such unanimity with regard to the ladies - for example, the lady of hearts was either Judith, then Helena of Trojan, or Dido. The Queen of Spades has traditionally been portrayed as the goddess of war - Athena, Minerva and even Joan of Arc. After a long debate, the biblical Rachel was portrayed in the role of the lady of spades: she was ideally suited for the role of the "queen of money", since she had robbed her own father. Finally, the lady of clubs, which on early Italian cards appeared as the virtuous Lucretia, turned into Argina - an allegory of vanity and vanity.
Valet (fr. Valet, "servant", "lackey", etymologically diminutive of "vassal"; the old Russian name "slave", "hlap") is a playing card depicting a young man. All real prototypes of jacks (according to the European version) are the French knight La Hire, nicknamed Satan (worms), as well as the heroes of the epic Ogier the Dane (spades), Roland (tambourines) and Lancelot Ozerny (clubs).
"Trump" cards, their very name, have their own special purpose. "Kosher" i.e. Talmudists call ritual sacrifices "pure" ... which, as you understand, is connected with Kabbalah.
Now the suits:
In the French version, swords became "spades", cups - into "worms", denarii - into "tambourines", and "wands" - into "crosses" or "clubs" (the last word in French means "clover leaf") ... In different languages, these names still sound differently; for example, in England and Germany these are "spades", "hearts", "diamonds" and "clubs", and in Italy - "spears", "hearts", "squares" and "flowers". On German maps you can still find the old names of the colors: "acorns", "hearts", "bells" and "leaves".
As for the occult principles, their essence is as follows:
1. "Cross" (Trefa) - a card with the image of the cross on which Jesus was crucified and which is worshiped by half the world. Translated from Yiddish, "trefa" means "bad" or "evil"
2. "Blame" (lances) - symbolizes the gospel lance, that is, the spear of the holy martyr Longinus the Centurion, with which he pierced the stomach of Jesus
3. "Worms" - means the Gospel sponge on a reed: “one of the soldiers took a sponge, filled it with vinegar and, putting it on the reed, gave Him to drink”
4. "Tambourines" - a graphic image of the Gospel forged four-sided serrated nails with which the hands and feet of Jesus were nailed to the wooden Cross.
An interesting fact is that in the USSR during the NEP years there were attempts to depict workers with peasants on maps and even introduce new suits - "sickles", "hammers" and "stars". True, such independent activity was quickly suppressed, and the cards were stopped for a long time to be printed as "attributes of bourgeois decomposition."
Very long time the invention of playing cards attributed to the 14th century French painter Jacqueline Grangonner, who allegedly was the first to invent these small painted cardboard sheets. And he did this in order to amuse Charles VI with them in the moments of enlightenment of the darkened mind of His Majesty.
This version was first refuted in the 18th century by two learned writers, the Abbots de Longrue and Reeve, who convincingly proved in their dissertations that cards and card games appeared long before the reign of this poor sovereign.
The first indisputable proof of this is the original act of the Cologne Cathedral, which forbade clergy to play cards.
This act came much earlier than the time when Grangonner handed the maps he had drawn to the insane monarch. The decent fee he received for these cards prompted the artist to be creative, and he began to actively work on improving the design of the cards. He replaced some figures on maps, and during the reign of Charles VII made further changes to the images on the maps and came up with the names of the figures that they bear now.
So, at the whim of the artist David, the peak King, was the emblem of Charles VII, and the king of hearts was named Charlemagne. Queen Regina in the club lady portrayed Mary, wife of Charles VII.
Pallas, the Queen of Spades, personified the Virgin of Orleans, Joan of Arc. Rachel, the lady of diamonds - the gentle Agnes Sorel, and the lady of hearts Judith - the light "moral" Isabella of Bavaria. Four jack(squires) stood for four brave knights: Ogier and Lancelo under Charlemagne, Hector de Gallard and La Gira under Charles VII. And other names of the cards were sustained by the artist in the taste of that time - a warlike allegory. Worms were the emblem of bravery, spades and tambourines represented weapons, clubs - food, fodder and ammunition. Finally, ace(as) in its Latin meaning represented what has always been recognized as the main wealth of war - money.
Thus, the painter Grangonner is not the inventor of maps, but left to his compatriots and everyone for an inheritance, which in many ways contributed and contributes now to the entertainment of people, and not only idle, but also business, and led to a variety of activities in all strata of society.
The phenomenon of the rapid spread of maps around the world is unparalleled. Cards are played all over the world. Maps can be the topic of research for a philosopher and a psychologist, a statistician and an economist, for a moralist and a clergyman ...
I must admit that origin of maps is still covered with impenetrable darkness. Scientists realized too late, time managed to destroy monuments that could shed light on the history of the emergence of maps. However, many learned people have devoted most of their lives to researching the history of playing cards.
But, despite all their efforts, this story is still replete with many blank spots, confused, and it is safe to say that hardly anyone will ever be able to find out when the cards actually appeared and when for the first time the first players sat down at the gambling table.
What playing cards were made of
Actually, for a card game it is not necessary to have those playing cards that we know at the present time: rectangular, oval, round or any other shape, made of thick cardboard. They can be made from wood, leather, ivory, or even metal. Such maps can be seen in many museums around the world. In some countries, cards are still made from wood, in some places from plastic materials in the form of dominoes, especially for card games such as Rams and Canasta... Thus, the material from which the cards are made can be different. The most suitable, however, turned out to be cards made of special paper. Moreover, such paper appeared almost simultaneously in many countries.
If paper was indeed invented in China as early as 105 AD, then paper maps appeared not much later.
There are many legends about the invention of cards. According to one of them, a beautiful princess was kidnapped by one robber in prehistoric times. While in captivity, she made cards from leather and taught her enslaver to play them. The robber allegedly was so fascinated by the game of cards that he released the princess to freedom as a token of gratitude.
One Greek legend attributes the invention of cards to Palamedes, the son of the Euboean king Nauplius, very clever and cunning, who, for example, managed to expose Odysseus himself. Odysseus wanted to stay away from the war of the Greeks against Troy. When Palamed found him in this connection. Odysseus pretended to be crazy. And he did it this way: he also harnessed a donkey to the plow of his bulls, and began to sow the field not with grains, but sprinkle salt into the furrows. However, Palamed immediately figured out the deception. He returned to the palace, took from the cradle the son of Odysseus - Telemachus, brought him into the field and laid him in the furrow in front of a team of oxen and a donkey. Odysseus, of course, turned to the side, giving himself away. This cunning of Palamed was the basis for various inventions to be attributed to him. He allegedly invented scales, letters, dice, some measures, and during the many years of siege of Troy - playing cards. And it happened 1000 years before our era!
There are researchers who name another person who supposedly invented the cards. He is allegedly one of the seven sages of ancient Greece, namely the philosopher Kylon, who wanted to help the poor forget about food. To do this, he invented cards, which the poor began to play and during the game they completely forgot about hunger.
The list of legends and tales about the invention of cards can be continued, but it is clear that they are not the invention of one single person.
How were the rules of the old card games developed?
It can be assumed that these were, first of all, combination games of the type of the current games of Rams and Canasta, i.e. such games in which it was considered necessary to combine cards as quickly as possible by pictures, colors, etc. This is evidenced by the fact that there were games in which cards were used not only with 3 and 4 images, but also with 5, 6 and more. In Korea, cards are played with the image of 8 figures: a man, a horse, an antelope, a rabbit, a pheasant, a crow, a fish and a star. And for each of these figures there are 10 different cards, that is, the deck consists of 80 cards.
In the old days, the Chinese even played with depreciated banknotes. Since there were few coins, and long-distance travel with a lot of money was dangerous, already in the 7th century the state allowed the so-called "flying money". For the wasteful life of their courts, the overlords needed more and more money and ordered them to be printed in heaps. Money depreciated at a catastrophic rate, and it got to the point that in the 9th century it lost all value. Old banknotes were exchanged for new ones in the ratio of 1: 100, 1: 500, 1: 1000, 1: 2000 ... It was at this time that old money began to play cards. And these money cards existed in China almost until the end of the 9th century. In China, they still play cards, which depict a general, two advisers, elephants, horses, war chariots, guns, as well as 5 soldiers. These 16 shapes are colored red, white, yellow and green. Each suit is repeated twice, and thus, the total number of cards in the deck is 128 pieces. The shape of the Chinese cards has always been characteristic: they are long and narrow.
Indian cards have a completely different shape, they are square and sometimes round. Indian cards usually had 4 suits, but there were also 12 colored cards, and each color had 12 cards, that is, the number of cards in the deck was 144.
When playing cards appeared in Russia
Presumably in Russia, the cards appeared soon after their appearance in Europe, in particular in Germany and France. They quickly penetrated, first of all, into the ruling circles. In any case, already under Anna Ioannovna and Elizaveta Petrovna, card games, especially in court circles, flourished, and card games reached their peak during the reign of Catherine II. It is reliably known that Catherine's grandees played almost everyone without exception. Many of them gambled colossal fortunes, while losing tens of thousands of dessiatines and serfs. The peasants quite often, waking up in the morning, learned that they, at the whim of the owner, were lost to another person and became his property. Courtyard girls, especially beautiful ones, sometimes went to the stake for a colossal sum, and along with them hunting dogs and thoroughbred horses went to the stake.
There is no exact information about when the cards appeared in Russia. Some researchers believe that this happened quite late, around the second quarter of the 9th century. However, this contradicts other obvious facts. Researcher Y. Dmitriev reports that as early as 1759 the mechanic Pyotr Dumolin, who arrived in Moscow, was demonstrating "moving maps" in one of the houses in the Nemetskaya Sloboda. And another Russian researcher A. Vyatkin attributes the appearance of cards in Russia to an even earlier date, to the 7th century, and substantiates this with the well-known tsarist Code of 1649, which instructed players to act "like with tats," that is, with thieves. According to the same Vyatkin, the cards came to Russia through Ukraine, from Germany ("the local Cossacks whiled away the time playing a card game").
The fact that cards appeared in Russia simultaneously with their arrival in Europe is evidenced by the fact that Russians "kept pace" with the Europeans in mastering the secrets of many card games.
Video: History of Playing Cards
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