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The Sacred Cod is a four-foot, eleven-inch 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"). }} The Sacred Cod has gone through as many as three incarnations over three centuries: the first (if it really existedthe 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 is the one seen in the House 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 () has kept its place under all administrations, and has looked upon outgoing and incoming legislative assemblies, for more than one hundred years." Soon ''sacred cod'' was being used in reference to actual codfish as well, in recognition of the creature's role in building Massachusetts' 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 taken briefly again, this time by students at the University of Massachusetts Boston. A fish figure is displayed in the State House Senate chamber as wella brass casting (sometimes called the Holy Mackerel) above its central chandelier. }} == Significance == Codfishing was the first industry practiced by Europeans in Massachusetts, and it is said that the colony's first export was a cargo of fish. Thus the codfish has been an important New England symbol for centuries, its image appearing on many early coins, stamps, corporate and government seals, and insignia such as the early crest of the ''Salem Gazette''. In 1743 a prominent Salem businessman built a mansion in which "the end of every stair in his spacious hall () a carved and gilded codfish." In the late 1920s an "amusing" codfish emblem appeared briefly, "totem-like", on Massachusetts license plates. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sacred Cod」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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