Editing Distelfink

{{short description|Bird motif in visual art}}
[[File:frakturcertificate.jpg|thumb|250px|right|An ornate Taufschein, or baptismal certificate, bordered by two distelfinks]]A '''distelfink''' is a stylized goldfinch, probably based on the [[European Goldfinch|European variety]].<ref>{{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}}</ref>  It frequently appears in [[Pennsylvania Dutch]] [[folk art]].<ref>[http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=distelfink Distelfink definition]</ref>  It represents happiness and good fortune and the [[Pennsylvania German]] people, and is a common theme in [[hex sign]]s and in [[Fraktur (Pennsylvania German folk art)|fraktur]].  The word ''distelfink'' (literally 'thistle-finch') is (besides ''Stieglitz'') the German name for the [[European goldfinch]].<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

==In popular culture==
During the 1940s, variations of Distelfink birds with flowers, hearts and tulips became popular designs for crochet, pottery and wallpaper patterns.<ref>"[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).</ref>

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, Pennsylvania|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|first lady of the United States]] [[Mamie Eisenhower]] and Baltimore Orioles baseball star [[Brooks Robinson]].<ref>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.</ref>

[[File:European Goldfinch on Spear Thistle.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A European Goldfinch on a thistle]]
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:American art]]
[[Category:German-American culture in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania Dutch culture]]
[[Category:Visual motifs]]