Have you ever wondered why there are 52 cards in a deck? And four suits? And what about the two colours? And the joker?
The common theory is that the 52 cards represent 52 weeks in a year.
The two colours represent dark and daylight; the four suits represent the four seasons; the 13 cards in a suit represent the 13 weeks in each season. The joker takes the number of cards in a pack to 365 – plus, there’s an extra joker for leap years.
And did you know these cards facts?
• The jack of spades, jack of hearts and king of diamonds are drawn in profile. You can see only one eye. The rest of the picture cards are shown with their faces toward us and we see two eyes.
• The king of hearts is typically shown with a sword behind his head, and the one-eyed king of diamonds has an axe behind his head. They’re nicknamed the suicide kings.
• The queen of spades usually holds a sceptre and is known as the black lady. It is the only queen facing left.
• In many decks, the queen of clubs holds a flower. She is known as the ‘flower queen’.
Do you know any other fun facts about a deck of cards?
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