Is this an Irish or Gaelic symbol? Does it mean anything?

December 15, 2014 9:46 PM

This is from my recently deceased father's belongings. Scarf
posted by toastchee to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (8 answers total)

Best answer: That looks Chinese to me. There's a stylized shou and a bat. Together, they symbolize long life and good fortune--they're often seen together. Looks like a tassel at the top, so I think this is probably upside-down.
posted by wintersweet at 9:55 PM on December 15, 2014 [7 favorites]

(And I'm sorry for your loss.)
posted by wintersweet at 9:55 PM on December 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

As an Irish person, I don't recognize it and it doesn't really look like a Celtic motif to me.
posted by Long Way To Go at 10:08 PM on December 15, 2014

I'm going to guess Chinese, too- you see a lot of similar embroidery to this in Chinatown linens shops.
posted by small_ruminant at 11:19 PM on December 15, 2014

As an Irish I would also say it looks like a sewn representation of a hanging Asian charm.
posted by Iteki at 12:06 AM on December 16, 2014

Nthing "Chinese or otherwise Asian".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:13 AM on December 16, 2014

Wintersweet got it in one. However, I could see someone else seeing a four leaf clover in the decorative "3" shapes around the shou, so maybe that means something about either your father or whoever gave the scarf to him.
posted by Mizu at 2:41 AM on December 16, 2014

Yes, thirding Wintersweet. Here is some Chinese embroidery with blue bats for comparison. A blog post about the bat symbolism in China.
posted by gudrun at 4:59 AM on December 16, 2014 [1 favorite]