Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a party or celebration.

1880		in M. Lewis Mining Frontier (1967) 129: In all public hoodoos it is a parliamentary rule for anybody as wants to ax questions to rise up an’ fire them off.
1909		C. Sandburg letter 16 Feb. in Mitgang (1968) 84: In the church where I lectured on Walt Whitman, they had last night just closed 3 weeks of rioting, drunken, emotional revivalism [...] Jesus wept – 3 weeks! How could I overcome such a hoodoo in one night?

2. (also hoodledoo) a curse, a jinx, a run of bad luck.

1887		Wichita Eagle (KS) 11 Nov. 7/1: He’s likely after winning for a long time to get the notion that he’ll win just enough to buy a new suit. It’s almost invariably a rank hoodoo. Away will go his whole pile.
1893		Chicago Trib. 2 July 15/3: You could kill the hoodoo of a cross-eyed man or woman by burning the stage properties [DA].
1895		J. London ‘And ’Frisco Kid Came Back’ in High School Aegis X (4 Nov.) 2–4: Dere wuz a cross-eyed man [...] Dat done me all up. I was clean off me nut wid de hoodoo.
1902		‘Hugh McHugh’ It’s Up to You 24: Unkind Fate gave me the double cross and my hoodledoo was working overtime.
1903		‘Hugh McHugh’ I Need The Money 27: Ikey had been up against a losing streak, and he was about ready to quit till his hoodoo went off duty.
1913		Day Book (Chicago) 13 June 31/2: The anti-hoodooists will then start on a 13-mile joyride [...] in an attempt to abolish the ‘13 hoodoo’ on Friday.
1923		Wodehouse Leave it to Psmith (1993) 494: I’ve had no luck since you left me. Regular hoodoo there’s been on me.
1939		K. Tennant Foveaux 272: Every time I’ve tried to settle down something has occurred to set me rolling again. There’s a kind of hoodoo against my resting long in one place.
1947		A.O. Fischer Focs’le Days 48: There seemed to be a hoodoo over the ship [DA].
1959		D. Niland Big Smoke 12: If anybody had a hoodoo on him, it’s you.
1999		Indep. Rev. 19 July 3: The world is wondering whether one of America’s most star-crossed families is indeed labouring under some terrible hoodoo.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 161: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Vodou. Hoodoo. Bookoo.
2011		Guardian Mag. 30 Apr. 9/4: Given the hoodoo Wolpert put on any reviewer below a certain age, I hesitate to introduce a critical note.