Happy Festivus!
“A festival for the rest of us”
Seinfeld fans rejoice- Your day is here! December 23rd is Festivus…If you’re tired of celebrating mainstream holidays, today is your day!
The holiday offers an alternative to recognizable, commercial holidays, but it also involves odd customs — an aluminum pole in place of a tree, feats of strength in place of carolling, the airing of grievances instead of familial bonding.
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Festivus was invented by a writer’s father
On “Seinfeld,” Frank (Jerry Stiller) explains the fictional origins of Festivus with great zeal, explaining, “Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way.”
While the father of George Costanza (Jason Alexander) seems like the perfect character to have invented Festivus, the holiday actually predated the show. It was invented by writer Dan O’Keefe’s father around 1976 (when O’Keefe was 8-years-old), 21 years before the 1997 episode that made the holiday famous.
The wrestling and grievances were legit
According to Time, the real-life Festivus included key aspects from the show, including the feats of strength (in the case of George and Frank, wrestling) and the airing of grievances, traditions that comedically reflect the tension common in many families over the holidays.
But the pole was invented by the writer’s room
The real Festivus included odd decorations, but not quite so weird as the large aluminum pole that Frank totes around throughout the episode.
Just an announcement: I will be doing my annual airing of grievances on festivus. pic.twitter.com/GHHEO7BjOz
— Emmanuel J Wilder (@The_EJWilder) December 16, 2019
It wasn’t originally on December 23… “It was the “Seinfeld” writers who decided on the date, with Frank explaining he wanted to “get a jump” on Christmas.
