philebus
I have, in the past, tended to assume that the use of French suits has kept many of the games from extinction after the popularity of the occult tarot. To an extent, I think this may be true but I have come to wonder now, just how much the use of French suits actually enabled the rise of the occult tarot in the rest of Europe.
One of the factors that enabled the rise of occult tarot seems to have been the unfamiliarity of the Parisian society with tarot cards at the time of de Gabelin, the games had simply fallen from favour. Had this not been the case, people may have found it hard to see anything more mysterious in tarot than we would in Uno or Happy Families (keeping in mind that for 350 years of familiar play no one seems to have suggested an occult interpretation). Then the UK and after that the US, countries where the limited adoption of tarot play in the past was long forgotten, took up the occult tarot as something completely new and novel. Occult tarot then began to reach back out through Eruope, under its uniquely French name, where the games were still widely played but with different cards and under different names. Although Italy still uses the old designs for play, these games were then localised rather than widely played, leaving much of the country in a similar situation as late 18th century Paris.
So, as a card playing sceptic, should I be thankful for or resentful toward the French suited tarots? I must admit, that either way, I would find it difficult to resent them, I just love variety in cards - but I would like to have seen history give us more Italian suited packs to play with.
As I said, idle speculation but I would be interested in the thoughts of the folk here.
One of the factors that enabled the rise of occult tarot seems to have been the unfamiliarity of the Parisian society with tarot cards at the time of de Gabelin, the games had simply fallen from favour. Had this not been the case, people may have found it hard to see anything more mysterious in tarot than we would in Uno or Happy Families (keeping in mind that for 350 years of familiar play no one seems to have suggested an occult interpretation). Then the UK and after that the US, countries where the limited adoption of tarot play in the past was long forgotten, took up the occult tarot as something completely new and novel. Occult tarot then began to reach back out through Eruope, under its uniquely French name, where the games were still widely played but with different cards and under different names. Although Italy still uses the old designs for play, these games were then localised rather than widely played, leaving much of the country in a similar situation as late 18th century Paris.
So, as a card playing sceptic, should I be thankful for or resentful toward the French suited tarots? I must admit, that either way, I would find it difficult to resent them, I just love variety in cards - but I would like to have seen history give us more Italian suited packs to play with.
As I said, idle speculation but I would be interested in the thoughts of the folk here.
