Water bearer Hamburg

Hummel, Hummel - Mors, Mors!

Sebastiana from Hamburg

"The Water bearer is a Hamburg symbol, the source of local greetings and stories. There are a few statues of them remaining and in some places you can..."

Before every household in Hamburg received running water from pipes, water could only be picked up at wells. In order to earn some money, there were a lot of water bearers who carried huge buckets of water into people's apartments.

A very famous water bearer in Hamburg was Hans Hummel. Hummel wasn't his real name, but he had moved into the former apartment of a popular soldier named Hummel. In order to make fun of the water bearer, the kids on the streets kept calling him 'Hummel, Hummel!' and they even showed him their naked butts. Hans Hummel wasn't very amused, but as he had his hands full with the heavy buckets, he always grumpily replied 'Mors, Mors!', which is Low German and signifies something like 'Screw you!'. This is how the typical Hamburg greeting 'Hummel, Hummel – Mors, Mors' developed.

There is a stone statue of the water bearer, but in some spots, you can also see statues of Hans Hummel painted in all kinds of ways – there were a lot more of them, but most of them have been sold and are now in private hands.

Art & culture

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Hamburg Spotter Sebastiana

About me I was born in Hamburg and like all Hamburgers, I am very proud of my “perl“. During high school and university, I lived in the U.S. and in Spain and during these times I’ve met many great people from all over the world. I love visiting them to explore their countries from their local perspective and I would love to give you the same experience in Hamburg and share all my favorite places with you! Whenever I travel to new places, I’m on the hunt for the hidden treasures only locals know of. Cute cafés, special bars, restaurants with delicious local food, cool clubs o...

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Johannisbollwerk 14

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free

Oct 9, 2025

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