17.12.2015 /

A woman from Sloboda Ukraine in traditional dress on a playing card from 1830

Back in 1830, Konstantin Matveyevich Gribanov created a unique set of geographical playing cards.

A distinctive feature of this deck was its “back” (reverse side), which depicted a map of the province.

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 The front of each card was divided into four sections and contained:

  • the name and coat of arms of the province
  • suit symbol on a playing card
  • A list of the province’s largest cities, with a serial number corresponding to their designation on the map on the reverse side
  • A depiction of a person in the province’s traditional attire. In most cases, it was a woman in a national costume
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The deck itself was non-standard, as it consisted of 60 cards (a standard deck has 52 cards). The cards were intended for children’s games and were educational in nature.

What we find particularly interesting about these maps is that:

  1. The province is represented by a pair of tambourines.
  2. On the map, you can see the Kharkiv national costume, which features a woman from Sloboda Ukraine.

So, as we can see, even in the 1830s, yellow and blue were in style among our population.

Anton Bondarev
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CategoriesHistory Sloboda Ukraine Traditions