An account published in the Waterbury Evening Democrat in Waterbury, Connecticut, in October of 1899 gives us a rundown of a Halloween party held in a Dutch neighborhood of New York City. Although held well over a hundred years ago, this party harkened back to even older tradition of the Netherlands, and was quite different from other Halloween parties of the time. The participants didn't dress up as scary characters. The young women wore their best blue and white dresses, and the young men were given blue jackets and caps made of paper. The decorations were blue, and the white dinnerware was painted with blue designs for the occasion.
This party was all about matching up young men and women with each other for romantic purposes, and the activities were designed to draw them closer. One game resembled musical chairs, except that when the music stopped, everyone noted which couple were caught underneath the mistletoe! Other games allowed players to see who they would marry someday. Among the fancy foods, there was a pie with a number on each slice. These corresponded to a souvenir for each guest that had lots of meaning. There was no description of spooky stories, begging for candy, or communicating with the dead. Read about this Dutch Halloween party that had nothing to do with Halloween as we know it at Strange Ago. -via Strange Company