Tarock ( ASS )

Tarock ( ASS ),"industrie und glück" 54c.
For an introduction to tarot decks, see; http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2011/11/on-tarot.html
When  tarot cards came into germany, the players decided to discardmost of the non -scoring pip cards in the deck , to make the game more interesting. The result of this is that the deck is shortened from 78 to 54 cards. The pip cards that remain are ;
in spades and clubs - 10, 9,8,7
in diamonds and hearts- 1 ( ace) , 2,3,4
The trumps and the court cards remain unchaged. 
Note the Jacks of clubs and diamonds. they carrry the maker's addresson their shields

 

Now, this pattern is known as the Industrie und glück ( "industry and luck") , or rural scenes tarock, the name coming from the text on trump II , aldough even this is known to vary sometimes, with "AUDACES FORTUNA JUVAT "( lat; "fortune favours the bold") or "SZERENCSE FEL !" ( hungarian ; "good luck") . Also note trump I, with the harlequin & columbine.

 Note the fool , Which is depicted as a harlequin, and is holding a smaller fool ( puppet?)



Sicilian tarot, an introduction:

The Sicilian tarot is the least common of the three tarot decks that are made in italy. Indeed so restricted is their use in that island that according to Michael Dummet,the averege Sicilian will immeadietly tell you that the deck is cartomantic in nature when presented with one.

This idosyncratic deck is of 64 cards, and is quite small ( 8 x 4.5 cm).
the deck has , as usual,22 trumps, but of these, 20 are numbered ( the highest ,20, depicts Jove with thunderbolts). So what happened to the other 2? well, there is the fool, but he has another wretched companion,"miseria" ( poverty) , thus bringing the total number to 22.

"Tarocco bolognese" (Dal negro)- part II

I shall procced to discuss the trumps of this deck.
The trump sequence used here is very unusual, and idosyncratic.

the top row of the above picture shows the lowest 6 trumps. from the left, are the Fool, the magician (operating a shell game) , and the four moors. The reason why I show only three cards, is that there are two copies of the middle of the three ( 4th from left). ( see http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2011/12/tarocco-bolognese-dal-negro.html for history of the moors)

we then procced to the second row, and the trumps 12-16. The hanged man [12] is depited twice on the card, and so on to 16, the star

we now arrive at the top 4 trumps, " la Grànda "- the greats. The cards, are by tradition, not named, so the player is to deduce the rank from the image. the cards are, from L-R, the moon, the sun, the angel and the world. 

"Tarocco bolognese" (Dal negro) - introduction

The Tarocco bolognese or "tarocchino"  is the idosyncratic tarot deck, used in Bologna.
 It gets it's other name , tarocchino, ( little tarot) , from the fact that whilst a normal deck of tarot cards has 78 cards, this deck has only 62 cards. so what happened to the other 16 cards?

The reason for this is the absence of the number cards of 2-5 in each of the four suits , probably to make the game more interesting by eliminating useless lower ranks. This is especially telling, when you consider the games played with this deck place a heavy emphasis on scoring combinations of cards.

Another unusual feature of this deck is that the trumps 2,3,4 and 5 have been replaced by four Moors. why was this so? . Well, if you consider the fact that in the normal tarot, the aforesaid ranks are the popess, empress, emperor and pope,  you will not e surprised to hear that the depiction of these ranks greatly angered the papal authorities when they came to  hear of this. therefore, as a compromise, the makers printed the offending ranks as moors.

This also tells us something about the games played with the deck back then. If the fope, popess, emperor and empress were replaced with four [almost] identical subjects, We can infer that whatever game played with the deck treated the aforementioned series treated them as equal.
part I --- http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2011/12/tarocco-bolognese-dal-negro-part-i.html

tarocco piemontese (modanio) part 2

For an introduction to this deck by modanio, see  http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2011/11/tarocco-piemontesi-modanio-part-1.html

Now, in this post, I shall discuss the trump cards of this deck.
The trump cards are a series of 22 cards. 21 of them are numbered from 1-21, and there is one unnumbered one, called the fool (or "matto") . this series is known to the fortune tellers as the "major arcana"

the picture above shows the first 5 trumps, including the fool ( numbered 0)

note the card marked "2" it bears the text "la papessa"- "the popess " this is intended to refer to pope joan, who was said to have reigned ( disguised as a man) in the middle ages. also , the card marked '5" depicts " il papa"- "The pope"

the top 5 trumps. in most games played with the deck, the 20 ("judgement") is regarded as the highest trump-

the trumps of 10-13. here you see the effect of making the cards double faced.

trump 12, "the hanged man, " is usually depicted as a man suspended by his foot from a gallows ( see below) .  however, when the deck became double-faced, all that was left was his pants and legs!

the hanged man, before becoming double faced.

tarocco piemontesi (modanio), part 1

tarocco piemontesi , modanio, 78 c.
this tarot deck is used in piedmont for playing various games ( and if you are one of those who think the tarot is for fortune telling, please see http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2011/11/on-tarot.html)
Since a deck of 78 cards is quite hard to examine in one post, I shall break it down into it's 2 parts, viz: the trumps and suit cards. this post examones the suit cards.

Now, one of the defining features of a tarot deck is the inclusion of an extra rank into the court/picture cards, the knight. this brings the total number of court cards from 12 to 16.
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Note the followng features in the deck:
I- three of the forur ourts bear names in italian. the only rank that is unnamed is the jack, or valet.
II the 2 of coins has a sort of ribbon wrapped around the pips. this feature is found in other italian decks.
http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2011/11/bresciane-modanio.html
III the pips of the coins bear numbers in them.

On tarot:

Whatever the local fortune teller or pastor has told you about tarot cards is wrong.

Trarot cards were NOT invented by egyptians, or gypsies. they were invented in Italy during the 14th-15th c.( no-one is quite sure about the date!)
Neither were they invented for divinatory puropses! they were essentially a extended deck with more cards to make the games more interesting. This becomes especially apparent when you consider the deck's structure.
the structure of a tarot deck:
the tarot deck is divided into 2 parts:

I- A deck of 56 cards, in the 4 Latin suits.
     each of the 4 suits is divided thus:
      1- a series of 10 pip cards, from 1-10
       2 - a series of 4 picture cards, viz: KIng, Queen, Knight ( cavalier), and knave ( jack)

II - A series of 22 cards, called "trumps", which outrank the former series:
21 of these cards bear numbers from 1-21, and one is unnumbered.
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Part I of the deck is known by the fortune telling dunces a"s the "minor arcana" , and part II as the "major arcana " it is here where you will find the omnimous sounding cards, like death, the hanged man, and the tower: but not to worry, these frgures were very probably taken from characters in triumphal parades.