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Playing cards names. So, actually about the origin of playing cards. How different decks and suits of cards appeared

September 23rd, 2010

Happens often to a player:
I sat down rich and rose up poor.
Who took the cards, seduced by profit,
He doesn't know the happy game.
The game of chance is sinful:
It was not given to us by God, -
Satan invented it!

Sebastian BRANT. 1494

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. If you are particularly 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 maps are too unusual for us and appearance, and by 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 and then strips of paper with the designations of various symbols were used for games. These distant ancestors of cards were also used instead of money, so they had three suits: a coin, two coins and many coins. And in India, playing cards depicted the figure of a four-armed Shiva holding a cup, a sword, a coin and a staff. 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 claimed that in ancient times, Egyptian priests wrote down all the wisdom of the world on 78 golden tablets, which were also depicted in the symbolic form of cards. 56 of them - the "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, the French Eliphas Levi and Dr. Papus and the English Mathers and Crowley, created their own systems for interpreting Tarot cards. The name supposedly comes from the Egyptian “ta rosh” (“the path of kings”), and the maps themselves were brought to Europe either by Arabs or gypsies, who were often considered to have come from Egypt. True, scientists were unable to find any evidence of such an early existence of the Tarot deck.

3. European version. (Let’s dwell on it in more detail - it is considered the main one). Ordinary maps appeared on the European continent no later than the 14th century. Back in 1367, card games were banned in the city of Bern, and ten years later, a shocked papal envoy watched in horror as the monks enthusiastically played cards near the walls of their monastery. In 1392, Jacquemin Gringonner, the jester of the mentally ill French King Charles VI, drew a deck of cards to amuse his master. The deck of that time differed from the current one in one detail: it had only 32 cards. There were four ladies missing, whose presence seemed unnecessary at the time. 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. Narovchatov, under Ivan the Terrible, a certain Chercelli appeared in Moscow. Chercelli, in Italy was called a Frenchman, in France - a German, in Germany - a Pole, and in Poland - he became Russian. He brought to Moscow a chest wrapped in a shawl, black with red stripes, which seemed to correspond to the colors - black and red. Cards began to be in demand. At first, the authorities were tolerant of practicing with cards, but then they began to persecute them because they saw the interference of evil spirits here. Of the legislative monuments about cards, the Code of 1649 is the first to be mentioned, which prescribes to deal with card players “as it is written about tatyas” (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 whoever has their cards taken out will be beaten with a whip.” In 1717 Playing cards is prohibited under threat of a fine. In 1733 For repeat offenders, prison or batogs are designated.

So what do the suits and meanings of the cards mean?

The structure of a card deck is known to everyone: ace, king, queen, jack even lower in value, tens, nines, and so on up to sixes or twos in a full deck - a typical hierarchical ladder from highest to lowest:

The Joker is a frivolous figure in tights, a jester's cap, bells... And in his hands is a scepter with a human head strung on it, which has now been replaced by humane artists with musical "cymbals". In pre-revolutionary stage performances similar character called Fradiavolo. “Joker” is taller than everyone else, 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 corruption of the Greek "diabolos" - a dispeller of slander.

King. Interestingly, all card images had real or legendary prototypes. For example, the Four Kings are the greatest monarchs of antiquity: Charlemagne (hearts), the biblical King David (spades), Julius Caesar (diamonds) and Alexander the Great (clubs).

There was no such unanimity regarding the ladies - for example, the Queen of Hearts was either Judith, Helen of Troy, or Dido. The Queen of Spades has traditionally been depicted as the goddess of war - Athena, Minerva and even Joan of Arc. After much debate, the biblical Rachel began to be portrayed as the queen of spades: she was ideally suited for the role of the “queen of money”, since she robbed her own father. Finally, the queen of clubs, early Italian maps who acted as the virtuous Lucretia, turned into Argina - an allegory of vanity and vanity.

Valet (French valet, “servant”, “lackey”, etymologically diminutive of “vassal”; old Russian name"serf", "khlap") - a playing card with the image of a young man. All real prototypes Jacks (according to the European version) - the French knight La Hire, nicknamed Satan (hearts), as well as the heroes of the epic Ogier the Dane (spades), Roland (diamonds) and Lancelot the Lake (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 French version swords became "spades", cups - into "hearts", denarii - into "diamonds", and "wands" - into "crosses", or "clubs" (the latter word in French means "clover leaf"). These names still sound different in different languages; for example, in England and Germany these are “shovels”, “hearts”, “diamonds” and “bludgeons”, and in Italy they are “spears”, “hearts”, “squares” and “flowers”. On German cards you can still find the old names of the suits: “acorns”, “hearts”, “bells” and “leaves”.

As for the occult principles, their essence is as follows:
1. “Cross” (Clubs) - a card depicting the cross on which Jesus was crucified and which is worshiped by half the world. Translated from Yiddish, "club" means "bad" or "evil spirits"

2. “Vini” (spikes) - symbolizes the gospel spear, that is, the spear of the holy martyr Longinus the Centurion, with which he pierced the stomach of Jesus

3. “Worms” - implies the gospel sponge on a cane: “one of the soldiers took the sponge, filled it with vinegar and, putting it on the cane, gave Him to drink.”

4. “Tambourines” - a graphic depiction of the Gospel forged tetrahedral jagged nails with which the hands and feet of Jesus were nailed to the wooden Cross.

Interesting fact, that in the USSR during the NEP years there were attempts to depict workers with peasants on maps and even introduce new colors - “sickles”, “hammers” and “stars”. True, such amateur activity was quickly stopped, and maps were stopped printing for a long time as “attributes of bourgeois decay.”

Well known all over the world, playing cards have found many applications. With their help, the future is predicted, a variety of people are entertained by them, they become participants in almost every magician or illusionist show. However, the past of the cards is so contradictory and vague that it is still unknown where exactly they appeared.

There are many scientific treatises that talk about the possible sources of their occurrence. But let's start with the fact that initially the cards looked completely different from how we are used to seeing them.

When there was no paper, they already existed

As you know, paper was invented in China around 105 AD. However, there have been various finds dating back to earlier years that may well be the ancestors of modern maps. Initially, images of animals, objects or weapons were applied to metal dies, pieces of leather, bark, bamboo or even bone tablets. However, it is too difficult to attribute such finds specifically to playing cards as such.

According to scientists' theories, playing cards originally appeared in China, and thanks to trade routes they came to India and Persia. There is also an opinion that the birthplace of cards is India, where round dies with images similar to ancient playing cards were found. There are quite a lot of other versions, but so far no one has been able to prove one specific one and find out for certain the real homeland of the cards.

The beauty of such entertainment initially was that the cards did not require a separate field, like checkers, chess or similar games. It is not surprising that interested traders took them home. However, the earliest finds still raise enough doubts about their connection with current playing cards.

Why is China considered the birthplace of cards?

China is credited with many inventions, including various games- for example, dominoes or mahjong. However, it is he who is considered this moment the most obvious birthplace of modern playing cards. There are quite a few reasons for this conclusion.

First of all, this is confirmed due to the fact that the first mention in historical sources related to playing cards was in China, in 1294 AD.

Secondly, China was the birthplace of the printing press, which greatly simplified the production of playing cards. And this also takes into account the fact that China was the birthplace of paper.

Thirdly, the playing cards that were in China at that time have a huge number of similarities with modern cards. So, for example, they had a suit, which was designated by coins. In addition, they had an oblong shape, and the images on them were extremely similar to modern kings and ladies.

Where did the very first card suits come from?

It is noteworthy that if the ancient maps that were found in China already featured coins, they then underwent some changes. After the maps came to Egypt, they changed significantly, because there was a period of Mamluk rule. This was primarily due to the fact that their religion did not allow them to put images of people on maps. Thanks to this, the four suits turned into coins (already established in China), clubs, swords and cups.

Why sticks, you ask? Everything is quite simple. Images of everyday objects and surroundings that these people were interested in were drawn onto the maps. But it is known for certain that the Mamluks had a passion for a game similar to modern polo. Subsequently, when playing cards had already reached Europe, the clubs turned into clubs or maces.

A special detail that should be noted is that regardless of the number of cards in the deck itself, which varied from 12 to more than a hundred, there were exactly four suits. How in Chinese maps, and among the Mamluks, who helped the maps get to Europe.

How playing cards appeared in Europe

As soon as playing cards from Alexandria reached the south of Europe, their rapid spread began. It was so widespread and large-scale that such a fact was even given the name “Invasion of the Playing Cards.” And such a threatening name can be easily justified.

At that time, many different clashes, hostilities between countries and minor skirmishes took place in Europe. Due to their lightness, ease of transportation and small size, cards were very popular among soldiers. And it turns out that as the troops advanced, the maps also advanced. Cards also came to Great Britain with the onset of hostilities.

Quite a lot of documentary references to maps have been found throughout Europe. In 1377 - the first mention of the appearance of cards in Switzerland, in 1392 they were already ordered in gold for the king, and what can we say only about the number of bans on gambling, which were almost everywhere!

How different decks and suits of cards appeared

As soon as playing cards got into any new country, they immediately tried to remake them for themselves. Only the Tarot cards, which retained the division into the minor and major arcana, have not undergone too many changes. They were not so convenient for games as such. If we talk specifically about playing cards, then they changed extremely often.

It turns out that each nation tried to express in cards its own characteristics and national preferences. Thanks to this, the suits were constantly changing. However, each suit has a rather interesting evolution. Let's look at the most famous decks that currently exist.

Italian-Spanish deck

It was not in vain that we started with it, because it is extremely similar to the ancient Mamluk playing cards, in which the clubs were slightly modified.

Swords (spades);
Cups (hearts);
Clubs (clubs);
Coins (diamonds).

Existing to this day, when fully composed it should consist of 50 cards (including two jokers, 48 without them). Number cards started with one and ended with nine. Next came the senior cards, which were designated page, knight (knight) and king. In some variants there was a reduced deck without eights, and there were also variants with additional card"Queen".

It is noteworthy that there were no numbers written on the cards of this deck, and there were no letter designations.

German deck

When this particular deck of cards was created, they wanted to make it as much as possible to show the enormous importance of agricultural crops in Germany.

The swords turned into leaves that met the requirements of German culture and were conditionally similar in shape (peaks);
Cups into hearts, since there was an association with the wine that filled these cups (worms);
The clubs no longer became rough tree branches, but turned into acorns (clubs);
The coins turned into bells, since they were also round in shape (tambourines).

Even later, when the French deck took over the whole world, its German variants had not two, but four suit colors. To preserve the pre-existing green (leaves) and yellow (bells) suits.

This deck has approximately the same number of cards as the Italo-Spanish one. What is also similar is that there were no ladies in it, but only kings or knights. This is easily explained by the fact that in the ruling class it was men who played the main role.

Swiss deck

Compared to the German one, it has undergone relatively minor changes. The suits of this deck are:

Shields that became swords (spades);
Roses, former hearts (worms);
Acorns (clubs);
Bells (tambourines).

French deck

It was she who became the most iconic. And the most popular among all other decks. Seeing modern suits, you see exactly a French deck.

In it, the suits turned into:

Peaks;
Worms;
Clubs;
Diamonds.

In the form in which we know them, they appeared when there was a need to simplify the production of cards. Suit symbols had to be created easily and by almost anyone in order to reduce their cost. And the suits were simplified to the very symbols that are now known throughout the world. But not only this became a surprisingly correct marketing move.

It was the French deck that introduced the designation of suits in two colors: red and black.

Such decisions made it the simplest to perform, memorable, universal, and, on top of that, it was more delicate in relation to women. It was in the French deck that the Queen was initially present as a permanent card. And its weight was undeniable.

Cards - rectangular pieces of material made of heavy-duty plastic, specially prepared cardboard or thin paper, depicting various motifs, assembled into a set for use in a variety of card games, fortune telling, magic tricks or card tricks. As a rule, all cards are palm-sized so that they are comfortable to hold in your hands.
A complete set of cards is called a deck of cards, a deck with 32 cards is called a small deck of playing cards, a deck with 52 cards is called a large or Anglo-American deck, and the cards that a player holds during the game are his (the player's) card hand. The deck of cards is unified, one deck of cards can be used in many different games, some of which include a gambling component - playing for money.
The front side of each card, as it is also called the picture or card face, is marked. The index of playing cards includes the designation of card strength - deuce (from English deuce) ... five (from English five) ... ten (from English ten), jack (from English jack), queen (from English queen), king (from English king), ace (from English ace) and card suit- heart (from English hearts - hearts), tambourine (from English diamonds - diamonds), pike (from English spades - shovels), clubs (from English clubs - club). As a rule, each country has its own style of playing cards: there is a Russian series of playing cards, French playing cards, rich traditions in Italian masters, cards from Germany, Sweden, Austria also have their own distinctive feature, their own national flavor.
The back side of the cards is called the back, in most cases it is a simple and at the same time elegant pattern, each card manufacturer uses its own unique design, sometimes brand manufacturers place their logo on the back of the cards. The color of the back of a deck of cards is rarely not blue or red, sometimes green and brown, and cards with white and black backs are less common. In exceptional cases, the difference is radical, for example, cards for tricks “Bicycle” with a transparent back or playing cards with a multi-colored back “Rainbow cards” from the same company “Bicycle”.

Cards by purpose are divided into:

1. Playing cards - the most common type of cards on our planet, 92% of the population have at least once held one of them in their hands. The history of playing cards goes back more than four thousand years; the oldest playing (namely playing, not fortune-telling) cards came to us from China and date back to 1400 BC. Nowadays, there are more than 10,000 basic card games, plus a lot of variations and varieties of the main ones. card games For example, the game Poker has more than 200 subtypes, the main of which is Texas Hold'em. Since there are many types of playing cards, we will look at them in more detail in the next chapter.

2. Fortune telling cards , or the most common among them are Tarot cards - depending on the style used, various famous decks received names:
- Egyptian Tarot - Egyptian motifs on card pictures
- Marseille Tarot - cards in the French style of the 17th century
- Visconti-Sforza Tarot cards - cards made in the style of the Italian Renaissance
- Rider-Waite Tarot cards - cards drawn at the beginning of the twentieth century, this is the most popular deck of Tarot cards, leaving many clones and descendants behind it
- Thoth Tarot cards - the last fundamental work of the master Aleister Crowley, which summarizes all his knowledge and beliefs
- Lenormand Tarot cards - Lenormand cards also belong to the category of fortune telling cards

3. Cards for tricks or cards for magic tricks (from the English magic tricks cards) - manipulations with cards and small card magic shows will be available to you with these cards. Best cards for tricks, in terms of their characteristics, and these are quality, high glide (which makes manipulating them much easier) and durability, are cards from the Bicycle company, this brand is the undisputed leader in this area. In our store you can purchase magic cards from this company in a large assortment. Videos of card tricks can be found on these sites:
- //www.howtodotricks.com/
- //www.trickmagic.com/
- //www.goodtricks.net/cardmagic.html

4. Solitaire cards (from the English Solitaire Cards Game) - in most cases, standard playing cards (whether small 32-cards) are suitable for playing your favorite solitaire game card deck or 52 card big deck playing cards, it all depends on the type of solitaire). For exclusive solitaire games, separate decks with the required quantity are sold certain cards by suit, in addition to the set there is a booklet with the rules for this solitaire game.

5. Specific cards – cards that could have been included in one of the categories above, but for some reason did not get there, since the emphasis was not on the game or ease of handling them in card tricks, namely their specifications, are divided into their own subcategories
- cards for children– educational cards with very bright and memorable pictures with fairy-tale characters
- joke cards- cards with funny pictures, parodies of famous people, this also includes political cartoons and the like
- cards with erotic photographs– erotic cards and cards with porn photos, I think, do not need comments

Cards are divided according to the material used:

- cardboard cards (from English paper playing cards)– standard cards, as a rule, the cheapest of all those on the market. But remember - good (that means branded) paper / cardboard cards will serve you for a long time, as company manufacturers use thin corrugated and pressed cardboard of high quality.
- plastic coated cards (from English plastic coated playing cards) – high-tech cards with a thin layer of plastic applied on top of the card to give strength and excellent sliding characteristics. Again, in our understanding, plastic-coated cards are associated with cheap Chinese consumer goods; it’s up to you to decide whether to choose 5 decks imported from China or 1 normal branded one.
- plastic cards (from English plastic playing cards) - the most durable and durable cards among all others, ultra-high-tech PVC plastic is used to produce one deck of plastic cards. 100% plastic cards with proper care and use will last you up to 500 times longer than cardboard ones,
- exclusive cards – a golden deck of playing cards, cards with additions of silver or with inserts from other precious metals – the most elite and expensive cards, but you must admit, they will be a wonderful gift for a lover gambling.

Playing cards (in English. Playing cards). Diverse characteristics of playing cards, division of playing cards into groups, systematization of playing cards by site version NashP oker.N et

Playing Cards by size:

- standard size playing cards or bridge size (from the English bridge size) – playing cards with the following physical parameters: 2.25" x 3.50" – width 2.25 inches, length 3.50 inches, that's approximately 5.72 centimeters by 8.89 centimeters.

- poker playing cards or poker size cards (from the English poker size) - playing cards with a wider base, the width of the poker cards is 2.50" inches, the height of the cards is 3.50" inches or 6.35 cm by 8.89 cm.

- cards unusual shapes (triangular, round or 5 times larger) – these cards are made more for fun than for a serious card game and can be an excellent and original gift for a gambler.

Playing cards are divided according to the number of cards in the deck:

- small deck of cards – there are 36 cards in the deck, the rules of such games as fool, whist, preference, point, king, thousand allow playing with a small deck...
- large deck of cards – there are 52 cards in the deck plus an additional 2 jokers, a large deck of cards is a prerequisite for such card games: poker, bridge, blackjack, baccarat, sec...
- cards under a certain game – the number of cards in such decks is non-standard; such a deck always includes the rules of this game. For example, a deck of cards for playing pinochle (from English pinocle or pinochle) has 48 cards - 2 sets of tens, jacks, queens, kings and aces, for another exciting game Canasta (from Spanish canasta) involves a double large deck with additional jokers. There are also a lot of new card games, often decks for such exclusive games are produced by branded playing card manufacturers: Modiano, Copag, Bicycle, Piatnik, Bee, Dal Negro, Kem, Fournier.

Playing cards are classified according to index size:

- cards with standard index (in English Regular Index or Standard Index) - cards with a regular index of medium size

- cards with a large index (in English Jumbo Index or Large Index) - playing cards with the optimal index size in our opinion

- cards with a huge index (in English Magnum Index or Super Index) - these cards are made specifically for people with poor eyesight

Playing cards are divided into:

- (abbreviated designation 2 Pips) - one index is located in the upper left corner, the second in the lower right, this arrangement of indices is more familiar to us and is generally accepted in the USA, but does not take into account left-handed card game fans.

- (abbreviated 4 Pips) - these cards are more common in Europe and are available in a large assortment from any European playing card manufacturer, be it Modiano, Piatnik, Dal Negro or Fournier.

Cards are divided according to the color of the index and picture:

- (from the English standard color playing cards) - the most common playing cards in our time with standard colors of indices and suits - red is provided for hearts and diamonds, black for spades and crosses, designs of high cards are painted in free colors.

- four color playing cards (from the English 4 color playing cards) - these playing cards are gradually becoming history, they were popular in Europe until the middle of the last century, their distinctive feature are four (instead of two for regular cards) reserved colors for suits and indices. The color of hearts is red, diamonds are blue, spades are black, crosses are green, jacks, queens, kings and aces are painted in a moderate style only in primary colors.

- two-color exclusive playing cards (from English 2 color exclusive playing cards) - special and rarely seen playing cards, can be made in one color or two colors with different variations of shades. These cards also include gold and gilded playing cards - they look very impressive.

Gradation of playing cards based on the color of the back:

- playing cards with one main back color – the pattern of the design and edges on the back of the cards is made in one color, as a rule, this color is blue or red, although others are not exceptions.
- playing cards with a multi-colored background on the back – there are playing cards where the back of the cards is painted in all the colors of the rainbow, a very interesting effect occurs when shuffling such a deck, this also includes cards with a multi-colored pattern on the back.
- playing cards with a design on the back – the designs on the shirt can be different, perhaps it’s something neutral – a flower, a landscape, a cute animal, a picture of a car, a still from a movie or just an advertisement...

Cards by manufacturer:

- branded playing cards – you can find the highest quality playing cards in the line of one of the world leaders in card production, be it cardboard cards, plastic-coated playing cards or 100% plastic cards – you are guaranteed pleasure from the game. Giant manufacturers in the playing cards market:
1. The American company United States Playing Card Company (abbreviated as U.S. Playing Card Co. or USPC) owns such well-known brands of playing cards - Bicycle Bee KEM Hoyle Aviator Congress Maverick Streamline.
2. The Italian company Modiano is a leader in the production of cards in Europe.
3. The Brazilian playing card manufacturer Copag is a major player in the American playing card market.
4. The Spanish company Fournier produces high-quality and affordable playing cards.
5. Austrian company Piatnik - the accumulated 150 years of experience in the production of playing cards is reflected in the quality of products; the Piatnik company is rightfully proud of its traditions.
6. Another representative of the Italian school of playing card manufacturers, the Dal Negro company – quality, quality and once again the quality of the products produced.
7... There are a lot of manufacturers on the playing card market, but the share of these companies is very small...

- non branded playing cards - as a rule, playing cards are made in China, the name written on the box resembles or is consonant with a global brand manufacturer of playing cards, the quality is naturally several times lower, of course this also applies to the price.

- custom playing cards – you can order your own deck featuring your friends, family or colleagues. The design can be yours or the manufacturer’s. The cost of a deck of cards to order depends on the order quantity; the more decks of cards you need, the lower the price of one deck.

We have reviewed the main categories of playing cards and now we can easily read symbols on any deck, for example:
Example No. 1: Modiano Cristallo red plastic playing cards poker size 4 pips jumbo index – plastic playing cards with a red back from the Italian company Modiano model Cristallo, poker size cards with four large indices.
Example No. 2: Copag 139 blue plastic coated playing cards poker size 2 pips regular index, which means blue plastic coated playing cards from the Brazilian company Copag brand 139, poker cards with two standard indexes.

We hope this article will become a reference book on playing cards and help you make right choice when purchasing playing cards. The article is live, send us your wishes and clarifications by email...

When historians became 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 drew pictures on pieces 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 that talk about the ban on card games for clergy. In fact, analogues of modern maps appeared in East Asia.

Ancient maps

The prototype of the cards, oblong sheets, is mentioned in the sources of the Tang Dynasty, this 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-garuta, where instead of a deck they used mussel shells with various designs.

Playing cards, as close as possible to modern ones, were already used in Korea and the Middle Kingdom in the 12th century. It is believed that from there they came to India, then Persia, Egypt and only then to Europe.

For a long time, proud Europeans denied the merit of Muslims in inventing maps. 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, 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 maps to Europe. They are mentioned in ancient chronicles starting in 1367. As a rule, all records about cards relate to prohibition. But since the 16th century, the aristocracy, without embarrassment, has welcomed their depiction in their portraits.

It was Grangonner who managed to improve the pictures by depicting figures on cards that have remained virtually unchanged 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 Grangonner’s time they were correlated with one of their contemporaries. For example, the queen of spades is Athena (aka Joan of Arc), the queen of diamonds is Rachel (in France she was drawn from the beautiful Agnes Sorel), the queen of hearts is Helen of Troy (Isabella of Bavaria), and the queen of clubs is Argina (wife of Charles VII Maria). Four brave royal knights became jacks, i.e. squires.

Inanimate virtues were given military-metaphorical meanings. Hearts were made a symbol of courage, diamonds with spades symbolized weapons, clubs - food supplies. The most valuable card, the ace, has become the embodiment of money.

In Russia, maps came into use around 1600. There is a version that Ukrainian Cossacks played them much earlier, having borrowed them from the Germans. Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich showed severity; card games were punished by torture with a hot iron and tearing out of the nostrils. But under Peter, two small card factories opened in Moscow, giving merchants the opportunity to make good money.

Back then, cards were made from poor quality paper. To somehow increase its strength, it was rubbed with talcum powder. When shuffled, such sheets slipped, and since then the name “satin” has stuck.

Atlas 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.

Who among us has not played cards? If now in our ultra-high-speed world we have no time to play card games, then in childhood everyone at least once in their life played the “throw-in”, “transfer” or the “believe-don’t believe” game. There are people for whom cards are work. Eg, professional players or magicians.

Where did playing cards come from?

Some suggest that the maps were borrowed by Christians from the Muslim East. However, there are other opinions.
The first mentions of cards as a tool for gambling appeared in Europe towards the end of the 14th century. It is assumed that the Saracen part of Spain had a great influence on the gambling activities of Europe on the part of the Muslims. And yet, there are three main versions of the origin of the cards: the first is Chinese, the second is Egyptian and the third is European.

Chinese version

The Chinese version of the origin of the cards is hard to believe. For Europeans, Chinese and Japanese maps look too unusual. And by the nature of the game, they are more like dominoes for us. But on the playing cards of India you can see the image of the figure of the four-armed god Shiva, holding a rod in one hand, a coin in the other, a sword in the third, and a rod in the fourth. This is already clearer to us. There is an assumption that these objects, symbolizing four different classes, gave rise to the appearance of four card suits.

Egyptian version

Modern occultists believe that the cards were created by Egyptian priests, who thus wrote down the wisdom of the whole world on 78 golden tablets.

European version

The main version of the origin of playing cards remains European. The first ban on playing cards was proclaimed back in 1367 in the town of Bern. True, a little later, the papal envoy was shocked to see that the monks were happily playing cards next to the walls of the monastery. There is evidence that a certain court jester named Jacquemin Gringonner, in 1392, drew a card deck of cards in order to somehow entertain his sick master. There were only 32 cards in the deck, since four queens were missing, which began to be depicted on cards a little later.

A little history...

During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the Moscow authorities were initially loyal to card games, but a little later, seeing the presence of evil spirits in them, they began to prosecute players according to the law. Code of 1649 ordered card players to “beat with a batog, chop off their hands, like caught thieves.”
Decree of 1696 a search was introduced, “so that it would not be common to carry cards with you.” In 1717 there was a ban on playing cards, and disobedient people were fined. In 1733 many were imprisoned and beaten with batogs for playing cards.

Card suits and meanings

The cards in the deck are distributed according to hierarchy - from the highest “ranks” to the lowest: first the ace, then the king, then the queen, and then the jack. Now come tens, followed by nines, etc. - up to sixes or twos, in the case of a full (54 cards) deck.

Standing apart from the other cards is the Joker - the strongest card, which is depicted as a jester in a cap with bells, holding a scepter. It used to be called Fradiavolo. The “Joker” is considered superior to all others, but has no suit.

Ace– a Polish word derived from the German – Daus, which is interpreted in dictionaries as “devil”. It appears that Daus is a corruption of "diabolos" (Greek) - a purveyor of slander.

King- slightly lower in rank than ace. It is believed that 4 kings correspond to their prototypes in ancient times: Alexander the Great is the king of clubs, Julius Caesar is the king of diamonds, Charlemagne is the king of hearts and the biblical King David is the king of spades.

I'll give They depicted worms in different ways: sometimes Helen of Troy, sometimes Dido. The Queen of Spades was often the goddess of war - Athena, and sometimes even Joan of Arc. The Queen of Clubs was often depicted as Lucretia.

Jack- comes from the French - “valet”, which means “servant”, “lackey”, and the old Russian name is “slave”.

Trumps They call those cards that are privileged, i.e. "Kosher" ("clean" cards). Most likely, this is associated with bondage and ritual sacrifices.

The designation of suits, as a rule, comes down to the following occult explanation:

"Crossie" or “clubs” are cards that show a cross. Everyone knows that Jesus was crucified on the cross, so the word “club”, if translated from Yiddish, means “bad”.
"Vini" or lance - a symbol of the gospel lance that pierced the stomach of Jesus Christ on the cross.
"Worms"““ denotes the gospel sponge, which the soldier filled with vinegar and gave to Christ to drink.
"Diamonds"– denote the nails with which Jesus’ hands and feet were nailed to the wooden cross.

A number of interesting facts from the history of playing cards

The very first playing cards in Europe were very expensive, although they were drawn by hand. The length of the cards reached 22 centimeters, which made playing them very inconvenient.
- A real card boom swept the entire culture in Rus' somewhere from the end of the 18th century. Historians claim that in his youth Derzhavin earned money by playing cards, and Pushkin was listed in police papers as “a well-known gambler in Moscow.”
- The games of educated people of high society are: poker, vint, whist, bridge, preference. And such games as seka, "point", shtos, and the harmless "throwing fool" are games of the common people.
- In the Soviet Union, mass production of cards was carried out by the Leningrad Color Printing Plant.
- The smallest deck of playing cards was released in 2010 in Omsk. Its dimensions are 6.3x8.8mm.
- In the old days (until the 19th century), a card deck contained a unit, which was the smallest card.
- The most miniature house of cards was built by Omsk residents Konenko brothers (Stanislav and Anatoly) in 2011.
- It is noteworthy that the design of the satin deck, which is traditional for Russia, has not changed for almost a century and a half.

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