Sacred Cod

Not to be confused with Sacred Cow.

The Sacred Cod
A view from below of a carved, painted fish.
The Sacred Cod in its "natural habitat".
"Humble the subject and homely the design; yet this painted image bears on its finny front a majesty greater than the dignity that art can lend to graven gold or chiselled marble", said an 1895 paean by Massachusetts legislators.[C]: 12 
Year1784 (1784)
MediumWoodcarving
Dimensions4 ft 11 in (150 cm) long
Weight80 lb (36 kg)[1]
LocationMassachusetts State House, Boston

The Sacred Cod is a four-foot-eleven-inch (150 cm) carved-wood effigy of an Atlantic codfish, painted to the life, hanging in the House of Representatives chamber of Boston's Massachusetts State House‍—‌"a memorial of the importance of the Cod-Fishery to the welfare of this Commonwealth" (i.e. Massachusetts, of which cod is officially the "historic and continuing symbol").[2] The Sacred Cod has gone through as many as three incarnations over three centuries: the first (if it really existed‍—‌the authoritative source calling it a "prehistoric creature of tradition") was lost in a 1747 fire; the second disappeared during the American Revolution; and the third, installed in 1784, is the one seen in the House chamber today.

"Sacred Cod" is not a formal name but a nickname which appeared in 1895, soon after the carving was termed "the sacred emblem" by a House committee appointed "to investigate the significance of the emblem [which] has kept its place under all administrations, and has looked upon outgoing and incoming legislative assemblies, for more than one hundred years".[C]: 3–4, 12  Soon sacred cod was being used in reference to actual codfish as well, in recognition of the creature's role in building Massachusetts's prosperity and influence since early colonial times.

In 1933 the Sacred Cod was briefly "Cod-napped" by editors of the Harvard Lampoon, prompting police to drag the Charles River and search an airplane landing in New Jersey. In 1968 it was again taken briefly, this time by students at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

A fish figure is displayed in the State House Senate chamber as well‍—‌a brass casting (sometimes called the Holy Mackerel) above its central chandelier.[3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference globe02 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. "Ch. 2 §13". Massachusetts General Law. General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved January 15, 2013.[better source needed]
  3. ^ Citizen Information Service. "The Massachusetts State House Today". Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. Retrieved April 8, 2009.