"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 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.