Distelfink

An ornate Taufschein, or baptismal certificate, bordered by two distelfinks

A distelfink is a stylized goldfinch, probably based on the European variety[1] It frequently appears in Pennsylvania Dutch folk art.[2] It represents happiness and good fortune and the Pennsylvania German people, and is a common theme in hex signs and in fraktur. The word distelfink (literally 'thistle-finch') is the German name for the European goldfinch.[3]

In popular culture

The American cartoonist Keno Don Rosa used a triple distelfink sign as the origin for Gladstone Gander's remarkable luck (story: "The Sign of the Triple Distelfink").

Notes

  1. ↑ Chotner, Deborah (1992). American native paintings. US: Oxford University Press. p. 491. ISBN 978-0-521-44301-2. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
  2. ↑ Distelfink definition
  3. ↑ Jordan, Mildred (1978). The distelfink country of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-517-53260-3.

External links