The Dutch Country, like the rest of singinging America, had a two-fold folksong tradition: secular and religious. The Pennsylvania Spiritual was an original contribution to American hymns. Of the two folksong traditions, the religious was the most important in Dutchland. The secular folksong, apart from the ballad, was most commonly sung at the schnitzing party, where courting youth gathered, and in the crossroads store-tavern, where Dutch farmers stopped for schnapps. The ballad tradition belonged to grandmothers, who sang murder and gallows songs to warn youngsters against the sins of the world.