I found this at a thrift store a few years ago and I've struggled to identify any of the symbols. I've tried online symbol databases, I think I tried reverse image searching, and I've tried just scrolling endless "fish" symbols to no avail. It's handmade and uses poly-fabrics, so it's certainly not an antique (or at least not a really old antique).
I love it. I think it looks really cool. I don't want to hang it up, though, if it has meaningful and/or religious meaning that would make that inappropriate.
Can anyone toss a theory my way? Is this religious imagery? Will it curse my descendants? Is this someone's Saturday afternoon craft, and they had no foresight that their fun "designs" would torture the back of my brain for years?
I'm awful for following a recipe. Unfortunately I just looked at a handful of recipes for "apricot chicken tagine"to look for the right kind of spices and the tequnique. And I think I just decided to add almonds. Here's basically what I did, though:
Essentially, you soak the tagine for a little while to allow it to absorb some water, and mis en place all your other ingredients. Marinate some chicken, sauté 2 med (thinly sliced) onions in a pan with some eevo until translucent and starting to brown.
Layer the onions on the bottom of the tagine. Add marinated chicken thigh pieces, dried apricots, lightly toasted almonds, repeat, then pour a little chicken broth in so the onions don't burn.
Bake for 35-45 min or until the chicken is cooked through. We added some garlic slices, but they didn't cook fast enough and were a little overpowering, so... I wouldn't do that again. I'd add some crushed garlic to the marinade instead, next time.