We continue our outing and continue cycling from the weigh house via the sand gate to the IJssel. At the traffic lights we turn left and drive under the IJssel bridge.
A large bronze statue looms on the quay. The fishman! He is popularly known as Henkie. The statue has the body of a man with the head of cod. The collar of the metre-high statue is full of large grains.
The statue symbolizes the wealth of Deventer that has been amassed through trade. Deventer traded in stockfish from Bergen, Norway. Stockfish is hard-dried cod dried on sticks.
The Vikings are the inventors of this way of preserving fish. They needed fresh food on their long journeys. They discovered that cod could be stored for up to a year. They took the head off the cod and the intestines out. The fish was then dried in the cold Norwegian winter air. During drying, the fish loses as much as 80% of its weight. Before use, the fish is placed in water for a period of two days to a week.
The Norwegians had more than enough stockfish in the Middle Ages and started exporting this fish. Deventer was an important sales port. From here, the fish were traded to the other Hanseatic cities and the surrounding areas.
Deventer became known for its trade in stockfish and the people of Deventer were derisively called stockfish. Once a year, Deventer is transformed into Stokvissengat. You guessed it…. That’s what happens at carnival.
Sources:
Pothoofd – Mountain Meadow
Districts & Neighbourhoods | Image archive guild Deventer https://www.beeldarchiefgildedeventer.nl/Wijken-en-Buurten/Bergweide/Pothoofd/i-Sc5wjJc/