Spanish Deck

Presentation of Spanish Deck for the Erasmus+ project "Playing Europe"

1. SPANISH BARAJA By Aitana Martínez, Paula Ruiz, Julieta Vico, Abigail Bukola, Laura Navarro, Pilar Pérez and Mónica Martínez

2. Iconography and origin

3. Iconography and origin The division of the deck into four sticks appeared already in an Ottoman deck of the 15th century discovered in the Topkapi Palace.The suits of this Ottoman deck represent: polo cue, coins, swords, cups and three figures (had no human representation). The origin of playing cards can be found in Imperial China, back in the 12th century. One hundred years later they passed to the Middle East and around the year 1375 they reached Europe at the hands of Italian merchants. Those first decks, colored by hand, were divided into four suits: golds, cups, swords and clubs, still present in Spanish cards. Once in Europe, each town replaced the figures with images closer to their culture. While in Spain the original suits were maintained, the French deck introduced new designs: hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs. Taking the Ottoman origin as a reference, the main iconographic innovations would be: adapting the figures to recognizable characters in European societies, adoption of a full-body iconography for all figures, the straight-shaped "swords", the substitution of the "queen" for the "knight", and the reduction of the number cards from 10 to 9. In 1781, Antoine Court de Gébelin theorized that the four sticks symbolized ancient Egyptian statuses: he associated them with Swords to nobles and military, Cups to clergy and priesthood, Wands with peasants and Oros with trade.

4. Characteristics of the Spanish deck

5. The traditional Spanish deck consists of four suits: golds, cups, swords, and clubs. Each of these suits is made up of several number cards and three figures (jack, knight and king) that are always numbered from 10 to 12, regardless of the number cards there are. Regarding the use of the '8' and decks are sold without these numbers directly.

6. The four suits represent the estates of the Middle Ages The design of the Spanish deck is from the 16th century, and the four suits reflect the four main estates of the Middle Ages. Gold for the merchants, a cup for the clergy, a sword for the nobles, and clubs for the servants.

7. The Spanish deck is unique in the world The Spanish deck has a series of peculiarities that make it different from other card designs. First of all, they are the only cards that do not have a queen. In addition, Spanish playing cards are also characterized by the richness of their designs. For example, at the bottom and top of each card there are small discontinuities that serve to mark the suit. In the golds there are none, in the cups there is one, in the swords there are two and in the clubs there are three. Looking at this and the number that accompanies the card we can know the suit we have in hand without extending the deck. This is a feature that other playing card designs do not have.

8. The oldest Spanish deck The oldest deck of cards exhibited at the Museo Fournier de Naipes de Álava was made at the beginning of the 15th century. It is one of the oldest decks that are preserved in the world. And in it already appear, as in Fournier's today, the ace, the jack and the king.

9. Before and after

10. SPANISH DECK

11. COINS

12. CUPS

13. CUBS

14. SWORDS

15. FRENCH DECK

16. ITALIAN DECK

17. Monarchy CHURCH Aristocracy Common people

18. TRADITIONAL GAMES WITH THE SPANISH DECK

19. THINGS TO DO WITH THE SPANISH DECK Magic tricks. Games: → El cinquillo → Siete y medio (seven and a half) → La escoba (the broom) → El burro (the donkey) → La brisca → El asesino (the murderer)

20. THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION :)