Distelfink
{{short description|Bird motif in visual art}}
File:frakturcertificate.jpgA distelfink is a stylized goldfinch, probably based on the European variety.{{cite book |title=American native paintings |last=Chotner |first=Deborah |year=1992 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=US |isbn= 978-0-521-44301-2|page=491 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X8jZjI-neDQC&dq=distelfink+%22european+goldfinch%22&pg=RA1-PA491 |accessdate=2009-11-29}} It frequently appears in Pennsylvania Dutch folk art.[http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=distelfink Distelfink definition] 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 (besides Stieglitz) the German name for the European goldfinch.{{cite book |title=The distelfink country of the Pennsylvania Dutch |last=Jordan |first=Mildred |year=1978 |publisher=Crown Publishers |isbn=0-517-53260-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/distelfinkcountr00jord }}
In popular culture
During the 1940s, variations of Distelfink birds with flowers, hearts and tulips became popular designs for crochet, pottery and wallpaper patterns."[https://www.newspapers.com/image/557503312/ U.S. Folk-lore Used in New Wallpaper]." Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Intelligencer Journal, April 22, 1943, p. 1 (subscription required).
Distelfink was adopted as the name for a chain of drive-in restaurants serving Pennsylvania Dutch food that became popular across Pennsylvania during the twentieth century. Sandoe's Distelfink, which was located in Gettysburg, which was built by Cecil Sandoe in 1954, was patronized by a number of prominent Americans, including former first lady of the United States Mamie Eisenhower and Baltimore Orioles baseball star Brooks Robinson.Reed, Lillian. "[https://www.eveningsun.com/story/news/2018/03/09/its-heyday-distelfink-drive-served-celebrities/410025002/ In its heyday, Distelfink Drive-in served celebrities]." Hanover, Pennsylvania: Evening Sun, March 9, 2018.
File:European Goldfinch on Spear Thistle.jpg
In the story "The Sign of the Triple Distelfink", the American cartoonist Don Rosa used a triple distelfink hex sign as the origin for Gladstone Gander's remarkable luck.
Notes
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External links
- [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~aferm/images/singdistle.gif Example of a distelfink]
Category:German-American culture in Pennsylvania