Meaning of suits in cards. For everyone and about everything. Interpretation of the meanings of playing cards
Playing cards have become such an integral part of our lives that few people think about the history of the appearance of symbols denoting suits.
According to one version, cards intended for the game originated in Asia, and from there they were brought to Europe by the Arabs. The cards transported by Arab merchants were similar to modern tarot and were divided into four suits: cups, pentacles, swords, staves.
Other historians are of the opinion that maps were invented in Europe - they were drawn by the jester of the French king Charles IV for the entertainment of the royal person.
In the countries of the Old World, playing cards were first mentioned in the mid-14th century. At all times, decks varied in number and composition, but had a number of similarities:
- Cards are divided into four suits (typically the presence of cards that do not belong to any of the suits, the so-called jokers).
- Within the same suit, cards have a rank, indicated by numbers, letters or an image.
- Each card is assigned a unique combination of rank and suit.
The deck that is familiar today with standard suit designations originates from French cards made in the 15th century. The fact that it was the French deck that became widespread is explained simply by the low cost of production. The fact is that in it junior ranks were designated by abstract icons that were easily reproduced using stencils and did not require drawing engravings.
The origin of the symbolism denoting suits also has several options:
- The four main social classes of feudal society (army - ♠, church - , merchants - ♦, peasantry - ♣).
- Knight's ammunition (♠ - spears, - shields, ♦ - banners, ♣ - swords).
- The symbolic crucifixion of Jesus Christ (♠ - the spear that pierced the heart of the savior, - the sponge that quenched the thirst of Jesus, ♦ - the heads of the nails that nailed the hands and feet of Christ, ♣ - the cross on which he was crucified).
The latest version is due to the fact that the church has always condemned card games, considering them the work of the devil. It is interesting that very unusual names for card suits are still preserved in European countries. For example, in Germany ♦ are called bells, - hearts, ♣ - acorns, and ♠ - leaves.
The names of the suits of the Spanish deck are literally translated as coins, cups, clubs and swords.
The French use the terms: squares, hearts, clovers, spades (spears).
In Russia, designations borrowed from French or with a similar name have taken root. For example, tambourines from the word tambourines, worms from the adjective red, which means red. The name of the club is nothing more than a transcription of the French "trèfle", and spades are both the pronunciation of the French "pique" and the name of the weapon.
Hierarchy of suits
The rules of individual games establish a certain hierarchy of suits. An example is games with bribes (in bridge and, sometimes, in poker, the following gradation by seniority is used - ♠, , ♦, ♣). Since there is no generally accepted standard assigning rank to suits, each game has its own order.
Trumps and special suits
In the group of games with tricks, one suit during the game is considered trump and has more weight in relation to the others. There are games in which one (or more) suit acquires a special status. An example is the game “Spades”, where cards with the same symbol are constantly in the trump position.
Another option for using special suits is the game “Hearts”, according to the rules of which cards with hearts opposite are undesirable.
In the following materials we will also touch on the historical aspects of the emergence of images symbolizing senior cards. This is an equally interesting topic, since it is believed that card images had prototypes from real-life personalities or fictional characters.
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)
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
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 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, a similar character was 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 was traditionally portrayed 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 ideal for the role of the “queen of money”, since she robbed her own father. Finally, the Queen of Clubs, on early Italian maps, appearing as the virtuous Lucretia, turned into Argina - an allegory of vanity and vanity.
Jack (French valet, “servant”, “lackey”, etymologically a diminutive of “vassal”; the old Russian name is “serf”, “khlap”) - a playing card with the image of a young man. All real prototypes of jacks (according to the European version) are 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 the French version, swords became “spades”, cups became “hearts”, denarii became “diamonds”, and “wands” became “crosses” or “clubs” (the latter word means “clover leaf” in French). . These names still sound different in different languages; for example, in England and Germany these are “shovels”, “hearts”, “diamonds” and “clubs”, 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"
Let's talk about card suits: hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. Sometimes they are called hearts, diamonds, crosses and spades. In English, worms are hearts. Tambourines diamonds, diamonds. Clubs (crosses) - clubs, tubers. The peaks will be so - spades.
It would seem that everything has already been said about them. Officially (what kind of word is this? approx. Harm.) suits appeared in the Middle Ages and meant approximately the following. They didn’t come up with anything with spades, hearts and crosses, and the diamonds, they say, are the tiles in the floor of the German burghers (who could come up with such an idea?! Note harm).
But pay attention to the crosses of Orthodox churches.
On old crosses, not new ones, made before the 1917 revolution, card suits are present and clearly distinguished in the design of the ornament. The “end” of the beam on the cross is made in the style of a heart or spades suit. On each ray of one cross, there may be a smaller “cross” from one of these two suits. And this small “cross” merges into the suit of diamonds (see picture).
From afar, the entire pattern of the cross merges into the cross suit itself.
Based on this arrangement of the elements of the cross, we can conclude that the black (spade) and/or red (cherva) elements are components of a larger red element (tambourine), which, in turn, is a component of a larger black ensemble - clubs, the cross itself.
Some researchers, for example, Alexey Kungurov, argue that, in fact, the suits symbolize the worlds in the ancient Vedic beliefs that existed in Rus' and have survived in this form to our times. These are the worlds of Reveal, Navi, Glory and Rule. Only he claims that reality is a peak, glory is a tambourine, nav is clubs, and rule is hearts. Let me remind you that the world of reality is our obvious world. The worlds of Navi and Slavi are dark and light otherworldly worlds. And finally, the world rules - the highest divine world. Then the question of the sequence of suits remains unclear. Indeed, in all known card games (at least to me, harm’s note), the priority of suits (price for marriage (praise), for a bribe) is as follows: from least to greatest - spades (vini), clubs (crosses), tambourine (tambourine ), worms (chirva). On the crosses of Orthodox, and perhaps not only, churches: hearts/spades, tambourines, clubs.
I would like to clarify this question, since there is very little information about this. So you, my dear readers, if you have any information on this matter, please comment.
As such, there is no “official” version of the origin of card suits. There are several hypotheses. Let me remind you that in Russia and the modern Western world, the French deck of cards is widespread.
According to one of them, cards were invented by the Chinese (of course, it is not possible to establish a detailed date for this invention, but what are the Chinese not capable of?)
According to another, Egyptian priests drew 78 tablets - Tarot cards. Modern cards were drawn on 56 tablets (the so-called “Minor Arcana”) and another 22 tablets (“Major Arcana”) made up Tarot cards. The hypothesis was voiced in 1785 by the French occultist Etteila, and it was continued to be promoted by the Anglicans Crowley and Mathers, the French Levi and the doctor of magic Papus.
According to another, Charles the 6th (suffering from schizophrenia) had a jester, Jacques Gringoner, who in 1392 entertained the king with a deck of 32 cards: no queens.
Another hypothesis says that in Indian maps there is a multi-armed Shiva, in his hands he held a rod, a cup, a coin and a sword. Suits were drawn in the same way in Italian card decks.
The Germans still call the suits spears, flowers, squares and hearts. There are also leaves, acorns, bells and hearts.
3.6 (71.15%) 104 votes
The “playing cards” beloved by many, as it turns out, are a crafty demonic weapon through which a person, at a minimum, blasphemes the main Christian shrines. Here is an expanded and updated story about what these products are.
It is surprising that the information we provide for thinkers and seekers has never caught our eye, and is only found on the Internet in fragments. It is generally accepted that playing cards is a sin because of the feeling of excitement that arises from it, but in fact, card symbolism is much deeper and more vile.
All four suits imply nothing more than the image of the Cross of Christ along with other sacred objects especially revered by Christians: a spear, a sponge and nails, which were the instrument of execution, suffering and death of Jesus Christ.
Cross– this is the cross on which Christ was crucified;
Peaks- this is the lance that pierced His ribs;
Diamonds- these are nails;
Worms- This is a sponge with vinegar, which the torturers mockingly gave to Christ instead of water.
Taking, for example, a card with the image of the Cross of Christ, which half the world worships, they throw it carelessly with the words: “ club ", - which translated from Hebrew means " bad" or " evil spirits" The Bible uses the term club in a narrower sense: " Do not eat the meat of an [animal] torn to pieces in the field; throw it to the dogs"(Ex. 22:30).
Additional research
A comment received from a regular reader of the site on the original article forced me to delve a little deeper into the history of this “game”.
So, Sergiy Koltsov warned against whipping up passions and provided a link to an alternative study:
Listen, brothers!
My natural criticality rebels. Is there really a Jewish conspiracy everywhere? It’s clear that they are a chosen, talented people... [but] no less talented, in my opinion, is to find their machinations everywhere.
There is an alternative point of view on the origin of suits http://ta-vi-ka.blogspot.ru , and there clubs are translated from French as “ clover“.Another thing is that they took root in Europe during the era of the decline of Catholicism, and in Russia during the era of the decline of Orthodoxy, and became so universally popular as a result of the catastrophic secularization of life in the Christian world. Cards are just a tool for idleness.
We decided to remember the French language and read overseas reflections on the topic.
“The Gamblers”, Carl Ostersetzer (1850-1914)
For young French scholars
is told this is the story:
Le jeu de 52 cartes est basé sur l'ancien calendrier lunaire égyptien: les 13 cartes de chacune des quatre couleurs désignent les 13 mois lunaires, et les 52 cartes représentent les 52 semaines de l'année. Les 4 semaines de chaque mois étaient associées à l’un des 4 éléments (eau, terre, air et feu), ce qui a donné les 4 couleurs du jeu de cartes (pique, cœur, carreau et trèfle). Source: “History and origin of playing cards” – Samuel Zovello, 1935“The 52-card deck symbolizes the ancient lunar Egyptian calendar: 13 cards in each suit represent the 13 lunar months, the total number of cards representing 52 weeks of the year.
The 4 weeks of each month were associated with four substances: (water, earth, air and fire), which was reflected in four colors ( suits?) in the deck: spades, hearts (hearts), diamonds and crosses.
Source:"The History and Origin of Playing Cards", Samuel Zovello, 1935.French Wikipedia
even less verbose:
“The Gamblers”, Cézanne Paul Il est possible que les cartes européennes arrivent en Europe par l "intermédiaire des Mamelouks d"Égypte à la fin du XIVe siècle. Un jeu complet de cartes mameloukes découvert au palais de Topkapı à Istanbul en 19388, contient 4 enseignes de 14 cartes chacune: coupes, pièces, épées et bâtons de polo9. Remontant au plus à 1400, il permet d"identifier des fragments de jeux datés du XIIe siècle ou du XIIIe siècle. Les premières cartes à jouer éditées en Europe font usage des enseignes latines (bâtons, deniers, épées et coupes), probablement adaptées directement des jeux de cartes provenant du monde musulman10,11,12.Ces enseignes se retrouvent sur les cartes du tarot Visconti-Sforza, datant du XVe siècle.Les enseignes françaises sont introduites par les cartiers français à la fin du XVe siècle1, probablement par adaptation des enseignes germaniques (glands, grelots, feuilles et cœurs). Les enseignes françaises procèdent d "une simplification des enseignes précédentes, permettant une reproduction plus aisée, un moindre coût de fabrication et une production en masse par xylographie.
In the homeland of Freemasonry, in the country that was the founder of the most popular and enduring type of cards, the history of the origin of the game is given three short paragraphs (for comparison: more space was taken up by information about what symbols these icons are encoded in various computer fonts...)
Types of pictograms on playing cards of various territories in Europe, French Wikipedia.
« Maybe"that maps came to Europe from Egypt with the help of the Egyptian Mamluks at the end of the 14th century. In 1938, an ancient deck of cards was found in the Mamluk palace in Istanbul. ( This is truly an ironclad argument!). However, the suits were depicted completely otherwise, tambourine and crosses in our usual form were not there. That deck was dated back to the 12th-13th century.
The first playing cards released in Europe also played Latin ornaments and were probably published with the assistance of Muslims.
The cards and suits we are familiar with appeared in France at the end of the 15th century, Maybe(!), by adapting the colors of the German tradition.
French Wikipedia suggests that the simplification of the drawing was due to the desire reduce the cost of consumer goods(!) when printing using woodcut printing.
As they say, no comment... And “club” is not “trefla”, although the peculiarities of French pronunciation are a topic for a separate discussion.
Site research for thinkers and seekers
Material on the topic
Extended video material from the RSL conference about the identified substitutions and deliberate manipulation of Russian history over the past two or three centuries.
About fish days, stagnation and big politics
An amazing investigation site about a popular Soviet myth of the 1980s - the creation of the anti-Orthodox dietary tradition of “fish day” on Thursday, as opposed to the ancient Orthodox tradition of fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays.
A thorough investigation on the site of the history of the substitution of the church holiday of the Nativity of Christ with a commercial and ideological surrogate.
A scientifically based exposure of the scientific version of world history from specialists from the authorized commission of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Selected materials:
A selection of materials on the topic of the relationship between religious and secular perceptions of the world, including the headings "", "", materials "", information, as well as readers of the site "Old Believer Thought".
Visit the "Customs" section of our website. You will find in it many interesting things that have been undeservedly forgotten. , ,
A lively and reasoned story about the methods of baptism practiced by the New Believers, and true baptism according to the canons of the Church.
A brief selection of objective literature about ancient Orthodoxy and the history of the Russian Church.
Which cross is considered canonical, why is it unacceptable to wear a cross with the image of a crucifixion and other images?
Exclusive photographs capturing the consecration of the Great Epiphany Water in the Intercession Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church in Rogozhskaya Sloboda.
There are many versions of when and where people first started using cards for entertainment. In one case, their invention is attributed to the Chinese, who began to paint dominoes out of cardboard. Others believe that the French king was the innovator in this matter, who was able to hide his madness during evening gaming games in this way. One way or another, at the end of the 14th century in France, representatives of the lowest classes became obsessed with this activity, which often harmed both family and work. Most likely, this is where this passion for gambling in people came from.
What is a card suit and what does it mean?
Each suit has its own meaning and different name, not only in languages and cultures, but also in historical periods. Their ancestors were Tarot cards, the name of which is still used in Italy - swords, swords and cups, denarii, wands. The Germans began to call the four symbols in their own way: “leaves”, “acorns”, “hearts”, “bells”.
Each suit of cards received its well-known modern names much later than its origin. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that each of the suits denoted a specific layer of the population, and the values of the cards were invented according to the then existing
Christian believers have a special relationship with cards. They consider them to be the offspring of the devil, who through them is trying to attract people to his side. Gambling or simply having a deck in the house is considered a sin, and the soul of such people will be destroyed and eternal life will not be granted to them if they do not come to their senses in time.
Everyone knows the answer, but not everyone thinks about what they symbolize. According to one of the most common versions, all the suits also represent the suffering of Christ during his crucifixion (the cross itself, the spear, the sponge with vinegar and nails). That is why the church has such a clear attitude towards this entertainment.
Each suit of cards symbolizes one of the known elements. Peaks - air, denotes everything negative that happens to a person at the moment: quarrels, failures, lies, losses. Cross - fire, shows what position a person occupies in society, has power or, conversely, is subordinate. Hearts are water, responsible for love and relationships. Tambourines - earth, helps to find out and clarify all business issues related to work, travel, education, etc. These designations are used in fortune telling using special cards.
What is the most favorable suit of cards?
Most people think these are hearts. In some ways they are right, because the appearance of such a card during fortune telling can promise help in resolving various troubles. Things will go well in this situation, events will develop as usual. One can speak of a person who has the hearts card as wise and prudent. In certain situations, this may mean an imminent vacation.
What about suits that carry a negative connotation? Obviously, the black suit in cards does not bode well. If such a card falls out, then immediate troubles are guaranteed. Believing it or not is everyone's business.
