Home / Bacon, Edgar Mayhew. The Hudson River from Ocean to Source: Historical, Legendary, Picturesque. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1903. / Passage

The Hudson River from Ocean to Source (Bacon, 1903)

Bacon, Edgar Mayhew. The Hudson River from Ocean to Source: Historical, Legendary, Picturesque. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1903. 287 words

The streets were named after the domines or ministers of that church. Beginning with Lydius Street on the north, then Westerlo, Bassett, Nucella, and Johnson running parallel with it. Among those running north and south were Dellius (pronounced Dallius and now so written), from Rev. Godfrey Dell, who came over in 1683; Frelinghuysen and Van Schee.

The reference to the " funeral orgies " of the Albanian Dutch is not fanciful. The dood-fcst, or dead feast, was an established custom. Every burgher kept in his

5. The Hudson River

cellar a cask of wine, spiced, for that particular occasion when, he having gone the way of all flesh, his friends and neidibours should assemble to sustain their

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PI, AN OF ALBANY, l6o5

grief with feasting and drinking. The table was loaded with such delicacies as oily-kocks, dood-kocks, rollctjcs and bollctjcs, Jwofdkaas and ivorst, with many another toothsome concoction, while wine and beer flowed plentifully. And the women, who occupied a separate

An Old Dutch Town 533

chamber from their men folk, sii)i)ed their burnt wine and discussed the viands and their neighbours. If any one went home sol)er from a dood-jcst it was not considered a mark of special \'irtue. But there w^ere li\-elier festivals than those incident to the taking-off of honest and considerate burghers. Many an odd custom marked the keei)ing of such holidays as Kecstijd (Christmas), Nicmvjaarsdag, Paaschdag (Easter), and Pinxtcrfccst. Christmas, to be sure, was not held in great esteem, for New Year's day was the occasion upon which St. Nicholas and his A'rouw, Molly Grietje, visited the faithful. About the fireplaces of the old All^an}- houses, on New^ Year's eve, the children stood a-row and sang the time-honoured verses :