However, fortune tellers interpret diamonds as signifying annoyances or perturbations.įrench Tarot card from 1898 (Credit: Wikipedia)įinally, in keeping with the other three suits, clubs also may have represented a fourth social class in 15th century France: shepherds and/or husbandmen. In Tarot cards, diamonds signify money, bravery, earthly matter, and energy. Most people would be happy to have a heart appear in their card reading!ĭiamonds are believed to have represented archers and bowmen their pointed shape may have been a symbol for an arrowhead. In the Tarot, they represent love (of course), knowledge, fertility, and joy. They are also, along with their like-coloured cousins the diamonds, thought to represent spring and summer – the ‘lighter’ seasons, if you will. How’s that for variety! Breaking in Heartsĭutch playing cards from the 1920s (Credit: Wikipedia)Īccording to the ‘social spheres’ theory of the four French suits, hearts were meant to represent the Church and all holy men. In Tarot cards, spades symbolize action, air, intellect, and death. It’s also thought to represent a leaf on the tree of life, as it were, as well as fall and winter (clubs also have this significance because of the suits’ dark hue). Spades represented the highest strata of the social sphere: the bold knights! Just as spades are the highest suit in many games, some scholars and amateur historians believe that our four modern suits were created to represent different French societal classes. How can we tell? Well, the Italian word for ‘sword’ is…you guessed it…’spade’! There’s little mystery as to how the spade suit evolved from the earlier set of four Italian suits. But how on earth did we end up with these four rather disparate icons? And why red and black? Let’s delve into the dirty details. It wasn’t until about 100 years later that our four modern suits evolved, probably in France. The packs did feature coins, but the remaining three suits morphed into swords, batons, and cups. On those cards, money played less of a central role. Some have speculated that the numerical value inherent in these suits is the reason why we use ‘ranked’ suits today.Įventually, the idea made its way to Egypt, and Italian merchants brought packs of cards from Egypt back to continental Europe (specifically Germany) in the 14th century. The four suits used during this time certainly had a common theme among them they were, respectively: coins, strings of coins, myriads of strings, and tens of myriads. It’s thought that packs of playing cards originated in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907), and they were used to represent money. Suit Up! How We Got to Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spadesīy Katie Coopersmith © 2017 Great Bridge LinksĬlubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades are so ingrained in our culture, it seems as though they’re always been around.Īnd it’s true – they have been around for a pretty long time, but they haven’t always looked the same.
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