Russian playing cards
Russian playing cards are
History
Playing cards were first introduced into Russia at the beginning of the 17th century from Western and Central Europe (supposedly from Germany and Poland). But they were soon banned: in 1649, Sobornoye Ulozheniye mentioned card games as one of the "thief's crimes" punished by lashing, however, from the time of Peter the Great the ban was usually ignored. In spite of many attempts by the Russian government to restrict card games, many Russians, especially the Russian nobility, played cards on a significant scale during the 18th century.
Before the 19th century, practically all playing cards were imported from Western and Central Europe, and from 1765 all imported cards had to be stamped and high import duty paid, which was intended to limit card gaming. However, in 1819, the restrictions were lifted, but at the same time the import of playing cards was also forbidden and a state monopoly was created. The production of own Russian playing cards started in the Imperial Card Factory of the Imperial Paper Mill in Aleksandrovo (now a part of
Design
The design of the Russian card decks were derived and influenced by the
"Russian style"
The end of the 19th and the beginning of 20th knew the rising interest to the old pre-Petrine Russian traditions (see also
Deck
Thanks to German influence, a standard Russian pack contains only 36 cards from 6 to the Ace. For some games, particularly Preferans, the 6s are omitted, resulting in a 32 card pack. Nevertheless, 52 card packs also occur.
The design of the pip (numerical) cards as well as the
- T (туз, tuz from German: Daus "deuce" via Polish: tuz) for Ace
- К (король, korol', "king") for King
- Д (дама, dama from German: Dame or French: Dame) for Queen
- В (валет, valet from French: valet) for Jack
The names for the pip cards are derived from Russian numerals: двойка, тройка, четвёрка, пятёрка, шестёрка, семёрка, восьмёрка, девятка, десятка (dvoika, troïka, chetvyorka, pyatyorka, shestyorka, semyorka, vos'myorka, devyatka, desyatka) for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 respectively.
In Russian culture
The popularity of card games in Russia was portrayed by some famous Russian writers, particularly
Because the 6 is the lowest card of the Russian deck, Russian slang uses the derogatory word shestyorka meaning "underling, lackey".
References
- Комиссаренко С. С. (2003). "Игра в карты как культурная традиция русского общества XVIII-XIX вв.". Культурные традиции русского общества (in Russian). pp. 88–106.
- Григоренко Е. Н. Атласные карты академика Шарлеманя (in Russian).
- Григоренко Е. Н. (2013). Русские игральные карты: история и стиль. Историко-культурный очерк. (in Russian). ISBN 978-5-9904149-1-4.
External links
- Playing cards from Russia. The World of Playing Cards.