Siegerländer Mäckes, a traditional ceramic coffee or teapot from the Siegerland region

Branded into this bulbous pot made of brown, glossily glazed ceramic is the description ‘Siegerländer Mäckes’ (‘Siegerland Rascal’). It keeps rather more than half a litre of tea or coffee warm and is held by means of a handle of woven wire. In former times, the pot was mainly used while working in the field or in the Hauberg. These days the ‘Mäckes’ is a traditional gift from Siegerland. What the connection is between the pot and the derogatory term ‘Mäckes’, or rascal, remains unclear. The word ‘Mäckes’ was primarily used especially in the late 19th century to describe men with no fixed abode who fed their families by begging and peddling. An 1860 song by Jakob Heinrich Schmick suggests that the term for the pot was derived from the fact that these so-called ‘rascals’ (Mäckeser) also sold coffee pots and ceramic wares in villages. This has not been confirmed, however.