The Sacred Cod

We took a tour of the State House today.  If you ever visit Boston, I recommend it.  It's free and the memorials all over the inside the building (which is much bigger inside than it looks from the outside) are fascinating.  The memorial hall in the central rotunda is breathtaking.

We happened to have timed our visit just right and we were given the tour of the Senate chamber by Senator Brian A. Joyce himself.  Likable man.  He had his picture taken with a group of three Germans, one Englishman, and one Nutmegger (what we call people from the foreign land of Connecticut --- that's me).

The Sacred Cod is the gilded codfish that hangs in the House of Representatives chamber.  No law can be passed unless the Cod is in the chamber.  The Europeans found this very odd until I explained that Massachusetts is the Land of the Bean and the Cod, and why the codfish is so important to Bay State history.