A Joker in the Pack: The Folklore of Playing Cards

You probably only have one deck of playing cards. And people like me can literally only play with one deck of playing cards. Solitaire.

Have you ever thought about how to use playing cards to predict fate? Kardomatics is not only based on an unusual deck of special cards. Madame Lenormand became famous for her unique fortune-telling cards during the Napoleonic era. Tarot cards can be found in the mid-18th century, but initially wealthy Italian families enjoyed a game very similar to bridge. Sophisticated fortune tellers still have oracle cards, angel cards, and perhaps "cards vs humanity" cards.

Oracle Card Selection Sacred Circus © aisi sedzhvik

But yes. You can port a lot with ordinary playing cards. Let's learn a little more about their fortune-telling and folklore. Click the play button below to listen to the podcast episode!

Hang on! Where do playing cards even come from?

Nobody knows! In fact, most people believe that this is an Eastern thing. Scrolls from the Tang Dynasty in China mention "paper tiles". But the fastest of them are what we call dominoes (Wilkinson 1895, p. 61). European newspapers from the late 14th century outlined "Saracen games," but it has been noted that they actually came from Arabia, not China. Jonathan Dee suggests that Europeans first learned of playing cards in 1377 (2004, p. 12). According to a note in the Journal of American Folklore, "Until that time it was not possible to connect the European and Asian playing cards, but the games played with them, and their common properties, are literally the same" (1895, HM.

Slovak Communist Playing Cards OK. 1950-1960 Creator Pressburger [GFDL or CC BY-SA 4. 0] (from the Wikimedia Commons website)

Playing cards were in such high demand in the knightly Europe that they were banned in Paris on weekdays. They became the "Devil's Book". In the mid-1400s in France, dark and red shirts were common. Each card had a sign or picture on it (like tarot cards), but the vigni was a new development.

During the civil war, numbers were added to the corners of the cards. This allowed people to hold a fan of cards in one hand, which basically allowed them to see the type of card.

The first deck for fortune telling was noticed in London in 1685. In 1770 In 1900, Jean-Baptiste Allitt published a book called Ettheil (Ettheil, ou maniere de se recreer avec un jeu de cards), which showed readers how to use playing cards for divination.

Playing cards get a set of meanings

According to Cory Thomas Hutcherson, in the late 1700s, playing cards had biblical associations. The five cards evoke the five wounds of Christ, the ten the ten commandments" (2013, p. 7). No doubt these meanings have changed over time. In Dennis Alvarado's view, the five hearts are associated with "the causeless jealousy of a weak, unbalanced character" (2013, p. 4).

In British and French decks, the king often alludes to Charles, David, Caesar, and Alexander the Great. The queen is the least popular. According to Adrian Bernhard, in fact, Pallas, Judith, Rachel, and Argina appear most often.

Four kings! Not to be confused with four tops © aisi sedzhvik

However, Spain replaced the queen with a knight on a horse, and Germany resolutely abandoned the queen. Bernhardt writes, "The French revived the queen, the English, etc. fell in love with her, and actually introduced the 'English rule'."

The Joker (Jester) is a card that goes wild in a deck. It was first seen in American decks in 1867 and in British decks in 1880. However, it can be a regular card and a trump card, and often does not make the usual characteristics, and as a result, it is not a regular design.

Playing cards do not evoke the same associations as Tarot cards. Jonathan Dee is still "for example, it was not easy to eliminate in the distance the previous Tarot cards, and the ordinary, everyday card deck was [...] a much more easily accessible inventory for future prophecy" (2004, p. 5). There may not have been an opportunity to use Tarot cards, but there would have been an opportunity to use playing cards.

Fortune Telling with Playing Cards

The Four Fishes have their own parallel in the four shirts of the Little Arcanine Tarot.

Tarot cards are in demand for fortune telling. This is the Everyday Tarot deck.

The Devil is mainly in the bowl of the Tarot. Vini are equal to knives, and Tarot coins are made of tambourines. At the same time, baptisms play the role of clubs, wands and Tarot wands. But there are also differences between states. For example, in Germany, bells are produced in greater numbers than Vini.

Whatever the cards were, all sorts of divination systems appeared. They were disguised, and the numbers on the cards carried letters for themselves. As in the Tarot, the fortune teller interpreted these letters for the questioner.

Such are their fortune telling habits. But what about their folklore?

In a ghost situation, people play cards with Satan. Satan lies to them and forcibly perform on Saturday to steal their soul. Scotland Gramis Castle may fall into a similar situation. But I think these situations have little to do with cards and have a connection with general gambling.

The Folklore of Playing Cards

However, Cola Lin Daniels and K. M. Stevans list all kinds of trumps (2003 [1903], pp. 1471-3).

You probably can't be far away, and spread them like this © ICY SEDGWICK

Do you have the club 4? This will not be successful to you. It is popular as the devil's "four pillars standard". However, it is luck to get two clubs.

Sitting in a rocking chair and playing cards is bad. Speaking on a table without a tablecloth is bad luck. However, it is lucky to "wear a hat and play cards". Or, before the game, "7 pieces to cancel the debt of the dark cat" is also a good luck.

Do you have three ace in your hand? You move immediately.

It is a precursor of the ruin that dark cards are lined up for a long time. Also, if you are sharp while playing cards, you will feel sad. Apparently the devil likes ho t-blooded people.

Perhaps the fact that the trumps in the 19th century contained arsenic were one of the reasons for "unlucky". An article in the 1879 "English Medical Journal" magazine states "the danger of intestinal infection by using arsenic for playing cards" (P. 746). It is unlikely that the player licked his playing card, but in the 19th century, arsenic was always a threat.

There is already a motor head song in your head, right? Spade ace is not only a classic of hard rock, but also a card required for the deck.

The Ace of Spaces

In the British state, this is usually a very expensive card in the deck. In literal sense. On the card, a stamp stamped to indicate that the printer paid the stamp tax.

Spade Ace © ICY SEDGWICK

Spade ace is also popular as a ruin card. Cola Lin Daniels and K. M. Stevans say that finding a spade ace on the ground is not a good sign. If Lance is directed to you, "deception and betrayal" is a precursor (2003 [1903], p. 1473).

The website has an explanation that the spade ace symbolizes the calendar Yul, that is the death of the year. The creator also explains that the sign was repeated during the Vietnam War. According to ethnic legends that are drawn on cars and stripes, the sign driven the South American army. However, there was no such concept, and a similar connection has appeared relatively recently.

I can't write this article without talking about the mythical "Dead Hand". Opinions differ on which cards constitute the "Dead Hand". Usually it is the Aces, the Eight Spikes and the Hits.

And finally! The Dead Man’s Hand

Dead Hand © aisy sedzhvik

According to a popular legend, when the savage Bill Hickok was shot in Deadwood in 1876, he was holding the "Dead Man's Hand". She inspired me to write a collection of short stories piecing together stories about the "Dead Hand".

The text is from 1886, when the set consisted of two dozens and three jacks. Different versions have different sets of cards. The text, attributed to Hikokuni, did not appear until 1926, when a book about the archer was published.

It's interesting because it appeared in folklore after its use in popular culture. But not the other way around.

Whether you use playing cards for fortune telling or gambling, it's all about luck. Some cards bring good luck, others don't. It's not surprising that people turn to divination to make sense of an unpredictable world.

It all comes down to luck

Next time you visit a casino, make sure to ask for a tablecloth on your table.

American Folklore Society (1895), "Origin of playing cards", American Folklore Journal, 8:30, pp. 250-1.

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References

British Medical Journal (1879), "The rats of playing cards", British Medical Journal, 2:984, p.

Daniels, Bark of Lynn and K. M. Stevans (2003 [1903]), Encyclopedia of Superstitions, Folklore and Occult Sciences of the World, Volume 3, Honolulo: University Press of the Pacific.

Wilkinson, W. H. (1895), "Chinese origin of playing cards", American Anthropologist, 8: 1, pp.

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