In the twelfth century, Marco Polo brought this card game to Europe, which immediately aroused great interest among Westerners. In the beginning, it was only a luxury product for the nobles, but because it was low-cost, versatile, and easy to learn, it quickly became popular among the people.
The French understand the four colors as spears, squares, lilac leaves and hearts;
The Germans understand the four colors as leaves, bells, acorns and hearts;
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The Italians understand the four suits as swords, coins, walking sticks and wine glasses;
The Swiss understand the four suits as acorns, bells, flowers and shields;
< p>The British understand the four suits as shovels, diamonds, clovers and hearts.There have always been many explanations for why these four patterns are used as the suits of playing cards. There are two more concentrated theories:
One theory is that these four colors represent the four main industries of the society at that time, among which spades represent spears, symbolizing soldiers; plum blossoms represent clovers, symbolizing agriculture. ; The square represents the bricks and tiles used by craftsmen; the red peach represents the heart, symbolizing the priest.
Another theory is that these four colors are derived from the patterns of ancient European divination utensils. The spades represent olive leaves, symbolizing peace; the plum blossoms are clovers, symbolizing luck; and the squares are diamond-shaped, symbolizing wealth. ; The red peach is in the shape of a red heart, symbolizing wisdom and love.
The 54-card pattern of playing cards is also very wonderful to explain:
The big king represents the sun, the small king represents the moon, and the remaining 52 cards represent the 52 weeks of the year;
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The four colors of hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades symbolize the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter respectively;
Each suit has 13 cards, representing each season. There are 13 weeks.
If J, Q, and K are regarded as 11, 12, and 13 points, and the big king and small king are half points, the total points of a deck of playing cards is exactly 365 points. In leap years, the big and small kings are counted as 1 point each, totaling 366 points.
Experts generally believe that the above explanation is no coincidence, because the design and invention of playing cards are inextricably linked to astrology, divination, astronomy, and calendars.
There was a legend that Henry VIII was the model for the pattern of the four K’s; the portrait patterns of the four K’s on the oldest surviving British playing cards all have the same curls as Henry VIII’s. A mustache and beard parted to the sides. It is also said that the model of the portrait pattern on the four Qs is probably Queen Elizabeth of the York Dynasty, the queen of Henry VII. The manufacturing of French playing cards has always been developed along the lines of each manufacturer. In 1813, the government promulgated an officially approved design and gave each head card a name. To this day, many playing cards still use this name. :
Spades, Diamonds, Clubs
K David Charlie Caesar Alexander
Q Pallas Judith Rachel Akini
J Hojirahael Hector Lancelot
K of Spades
David (David, 1005 BC to 965 BC), the leader of the Kingdom of Israel in the 10th century BC The official monarch is the monarch chosen by God. David was a great king, warrior, musician, and poet.
David was the father of King Solomon of Israel in the 10th century BC. He was good at playing the harp and wrote many hymns in the Bible, so there is often a harp pattern on the K of Spades screen. .
Q of Spades
Athena is the goddess of war and wisdom in Greek mythology. The city of Athens is named after her and is her exclusive city. She is the only queen among the four queens who holds a weapon.
Jack of Spades
Hoggill is the attendant of Charles I (K of Hearts).
Ogier (Ogier) is also translated as Hokla. Danish Ogier is a fictional Danish hero, which is derived from ancient French poetry.
K of Hearts
Charlemagne (Charlemagne, 742 or 747 to 814) (also translated as Charlemagne), monarch of the Charlemagne Empire, he conquered most of Western and Central Europe , possessed supreme authority, completed the alliance between religious power and royal power, and ordered the people across the country to believe in Christianity, thus promoting the spread of Christianity. Charles revitalized the Western Roman Empire and launched a wave of medieval Renaissance. He is the only king of poker who does not have a beard.
Charlie I is the only king among the four kings who does not have a beard.
The Queen of Hearts
is Queen Judith.
Jack of Hearts
La Hire is an attendant of Charles VII.
La Hire (1390 to 1443) was a French commander in the Hundred Years War between England and France, and a comrade-in-arms of Joan of Arc.
Diamond K
Caesar (Caesar, 100 BC to 44 BC) was an outstanding military strategist and politician in ancient Rome. He promoted the transformation from the Roman Empire to the Republic of Transformation of the Roman Empire.
He fought for several years and finally gained dictatorial power, combining the powers of a consul and a dictator. Because Caesar's administrative measures touched the interests of the Senate nobles, he was finally stabbed to death by the opposition in the Senate chamber. The King of Diamonds is the only side face among the four king cards.
Queen of Diamonds
Queen Ryker.
Diamond J
Hector was an attendant of Charles I.
Hector (Hector) is a Trojan prince and the first warrior of Troy, according to the records in Homer's epic "The Iliad".
K of Clubs
Alexander the Great (Alexander, 356 BC to 323 BC), king of the Kingdom of Macedonia, Alexander the Great rose in Macedonia, first destroyed the enemy Persian Empire, and then successively conquered many Western countries Civilized city-state. The neighboring land stretched from Egypt in the west to the northwest frontier of India in the east, and established the famous ancient Greek Empire.
Alexander always wore jewelry with a cross on his clothes.
Plum Blossom Q
The word Argine is derived from the letter shift of the word Queen (Regina). She is holding a rose, which represents the red color of Britain. After the Wars of the Roses, the Lancastrian dynasty, symbolized by roses, and the York dynasty, symbolized by white roses, finally reconciled and united their rosettes.
J of Clubs
Lancelot is a knight in the story of King Arthur.
Lancelot is a legendary figure in England and a member of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table.
The J (JACK) in poker was originally the word KNAVE (villain). This word was still quite popular in the UK and continental Europe until the 1940s. It has been basically abandoned now, but in Europe such as Some countries, such as Sweden, still use this term. One of the reasons why using JACK instead of KNAVE was quickly accepted by the public is that it is convenient to use the third part of JACK when recording or reporting card cases, or when using abbreviations, or when describing the playing process. A letter J. In the past, when using the word KNAVE, you had to use Kn. If you only use K, it will cause confusion.
In 1840, after the Opium War, foreign poker also entered China with foreigners. At that time, imported poker cards were mainly from the United States and Japan. Japanese poker cards were popular because of their low price. In 1931, a movement to boycott Japanese goods was launched across the country to promote domestic products and develop industry. Shanghainese Huang Jinsheng founded Cuihua Card Factory and trial-produced China's first batch of poker cards, Red Lion poker cards.