PIRUCHO said:
So here Ross I still asking if the text of Fernando de la Torre,dated 1450 and which you brought to us knowledge,is the oldest known reference about divination use of cards.
And here I again remark that Fernando never explained the rules of the game.
Only did a depiction of the composition of the deck and attributed the suits or palos to the kind of women mentioned.
Thanks Migue - good information from your sources. I will ask Thierry Depaulis, who is also expert on Hombre, what he thinks of the games.
I still don't know how to understand the "echar suertes" in this context. I know that it indicates to draw a card or cards at random and perhaps read the copla and make a game of it - it is "drawing lots/cards" here - and it could be fun and young ladies could take it to tell the present or future lover.
Thanks for finding out about the carnero and gallina. This makes perfect sense now. I find it surprising that Fernando could address this to the Condesa - but maybe it was a very private book, and maybe the culture accepted this kind of salacious literature - the moralists were always against women (and anybody) reading the romances because it excited their lustful imaginations too much.
Ross
