Festivus is a non religious holiday that takes place around Christmas on Dec. 23. The holiday which gained notoriety on the tv show "Seinfeld" in 1997 was actually created by Dan O'Keefe in 1966, reported the New York Times. His son reportedly was a writer on Seinfeld and brought the made up holiday to the screen.
On "Seinfeld" instead of a tree, people celebrate the holiday with an undecorated aluminum pole. A simple Google search for "Festivus" brings up alongside the search results an undecorated Festivus pole.
On the episode of "Seinfeld," Frank Constanza, George Costanza's father made up the holiday. Other traditions include a Festivus Feast, Festivus Fruitcake, Airing of Grievances and the Feats of Strength.
The Airing of Grievance is the time when you tell everyone in what ways they have disappointed you in the past year.
On the TV show Frank says, "Welcome, new comers. The tradition of Festivus begins with the airing of grievances. I got a lot of problems with you people! And now you're gonna hear about it!" And he continues, "You, Kruger. My son tells me your company stinks! You couldn't smooth a silk sheet if you had a hot date with a babe...I lost my train of thought."
Feats of Strength is when the head of the family chooses someone to participate and Festivus is not over until the head of the household is wrestled to the floor and pinned, as stated on the famous Seinfeld episode.
Because of the popular Seinfeld episode, Festivus is growing in popularity. Frank tells Kramer on the tv show that he invented the holiday when his children were young and he was in a department store and found himself fighting over a doll. He said, "I realized there had to be another way."
So then the term, "A Festivus for the rest of us" was coined and the rest is history.
See a clip of the actual episode here:
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
