What do the card pieces and suits mean: Forgotten symbols of the most popular game

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

There are several versions of the origin of playing cards and how the eastern game came to Europe. According to one of them, in 1392, Jacques Gringonner, the jester of the mentally ill French king Charles VI, drew a deck of cards for the entertainment of his master (or redrawn so that they became more understandable). At the same time, he correlated each of the figures with a real historical character. True, there were no noble ladies in the deck at first, because in those days women did not play cards yet.

The structure of the deck of cards has not changed for several centuries. The seniority of the cards and their suits are known to everyone. In the old days, however, great importance was attached to figures with images of people.

Joker (joker) - depicted as a jester and is included in the standard "French deck". According to one version, the court fool appeared in a deck of tarot cards, there really is such a figure. The madman on it walks briskly to the cliff, and the dog tries to keep him from the fatal step. Mandatory attributes are a stick with a hanging sack - a symbol of a traveler and witchcraft attributes at the same time. Interestingly, the Joker appeared in the decks not earlier than the 19th century and was first depicted with a human head (skull) on a stick, then this gloomy symbol was replaced with a buffoon's rattle or musical "plates", and now they can depict without unnecessary attributes.

Card kings were originally named after famous historical figures: Charlemagne (worms), biblical king David (spades), Julius Caesar (tambourines) and Alexander the Great (clubs). The word Jack comes from the French "servant", "lackey", closest to him "vassal". In the old days in Russia this figure was called "slave" or "hlap". Usually a young man is depicted on a playing card. All jacks according to the European version also have real prototypes: 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).

The ladies appeared in the deck much later, and there is no unanimity about their persons. Most often, the following is indicated: Athena, goddess of wisdom (spades), Argina, an anagram of Latin Regina, queen (clubs), biblical Rachel (tambourines) and Helen of Trojan (worms). Thus, on the card table, with some imagination, you can play out a real "battle" between famous historical and mythological characters.

Card suits, too, once carried a deep meaning, which was gradually forgotten. To remember it, you need to turn to the ancient Indian version of this game. Such cards were called ganjifa and were round in shape. They depicted the figure of the four-armed Shiva, who was holding a goblet, sword, coin and wand. Most likely, these symbols of the four Indian classes gave rise to modern card suits.

In Europe, swords became "spades", cups - into "worms", coins - into "tambourines", and wands - into "clubs". But in the later tradition, the suits still corresponded to the four main feudal classes: the military, the clergy, the merchants, and the peasantry. These names sound differently in different languages. 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.

It is interesting that there is another, occult interpretation of card suits, it is cited as an example when, for religious reasons, it is forbidden to play cards. In this interpretation, the "baptism" symbolizes the cross on which Jesus was crucified, the "lances" - the spear of the holy martyr Longinus the Centurion, "worms" means the Gospel sponge on the canes, with which they watered the crucified, and the "tambourines" - tetrahedral nails that pierced the legs and the hands of the Savior.

It is interesting that in different historical epochs, with major political changes, there were attempts to change card figures and suits, but they were not crowned with success. So, after the Great French Revolution, decks with national heroes were drawn, in the USSR during the NEP years there were attempts to depict workers with peasants on cards and even introduce new suits: "sickles", "hammers" and "stars".

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Imperial Ball Costumes served as the theme for a new deck of cards.