What's the deal with Festivus?
10 things you may not know about the holiday 'for the rest of us' — and the 'Seinfeld' episode that spawned it
“Seinfeld” fans around the world gathered to air their grievances on Tuesday in celebration of Festivus, the holiday created by Frank Costanza on the popular 1990s sitcom, which has since become real annual tradition for thousands of people.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was one of them.
“Christmas is a time for joy,” the Republican senator wrote on Twitter. “It is not a time to air grievances. That's what #Festivus is for.”
Christmas is a time for joy. For sharing blessings w/family & friends. It is not a time to air grievances. That's what #Festivus is for.
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) December 23, 2014
The alternative gathering calls for a metal pole instead of a tree, the airing of grievances (“You gather your family around and tell them all the ways they have disappointed you over the past year,” Frank Costanza explains) and the “feats of strength” — a father-son wrestling match that concludes the oddball holiday, dubbed a “Festivus for the rest of us.”
HAPPY FESTIVUS! May ur pole be straight, ur feats be strong & your grievances be few. With love from the Costanzas - Frank, Estelle, George
— jason alexander (@IJasonAlexander) December 23, 2014
Like Frank Costanza, Paul has “a lot of problems with you people,” at least in Washington.
I've got a lot of problems with you people (mostly in DC), and today you're going to hear about it! Stayed tuned for #Festivus grievances
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) December 23, 2014
My grievance there though remains the same. Not enough looking for agreement in Washington. @CoryBooker and I will keep trying.#Festivus
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) December 23, 2014
Tempting to air a grievance @marcorubio again, but we've done that enough for this week. Instead I will say an early Merry Christmas.
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) December 23, 2014
In honor of Festivus, here are 10 things you may not have known about the holiday and the “Seinfeld” episode that spawned it.
• The “Festivus episode,” which first aired on Dec. 18, 1997, was called “The Strike.” The plot revolved around Kramer’s decision to return to work at H&H Bagels, where he had been on strike for 12 years.
Watching the #Festivus episode of @SeinfeldTV. Lost in the brilliance is Kramer's return to work at H&H Bagels, once the best bagels in NYC.
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) December 24, 2014
• Festivus is real. Daniel O’Keefe, a writer for the show, appropriated his family’s bizarre tradition for the episode. O’Keefe's father, Dan, invented Festivus in 1966. “Actually, I didn’t want to put it on TV,” O’Keefe told CNN last year. “It was sort of a family disgrace, and then my younger brother let it slip that this went on, so the other writers and Jerry said, yeah, 'We’d like to give this to America.’ I said, I don’t think America wants it at all or should have it,’ but they prevailed upon me, and now the chickens have come home to roost.”
• Its acceptance surprised its inventor. In 2004, when the elder O’Keefe, a former Reader’s Digest editor, was informed by a New York Times writer that his holiday was catching on, he replied: “Have we accidentally invented a cult?”
Went for a walk today and saw my first #Festivus pole pic.twitter.com/qmyehQcyCI
— SpeakingOfSouthFL (@SpeakingofSFL) December 13, 2014
• Maybe. Last year, a Florida man protesting a Nativity scene displayed inside the Florida Capitol building successfully applied to erect a 6-foot Festivus pole out of beer cans inside the statehouse rotunda. “What's the point? There is no point,” Chaz Stevens, who drove 450 miles from his Fort Lauderdale home to Tallahassee to put up the pole, told the Associated Press. “It’s ridiculous. This is the most ridiculous thing I could come up with.”
May next year's Florida Capitol #Festivus poll be made of legal craft beer growlers, instead of undrinkable PBR pic.twitter.com/ejqes12ICk
— Steve Schale (@steveschale) December 17, 2014
• It wasn’t always on Dec. 23. While Festivus is traditionally celebrated on Dec. 23, the O'Keefe family celebrated it anytime between October and May. And while most celebrate it on the Dec. 23, Festivus observers have been known to celebrate it on other days, hosting Festivus parties the weekend before Christmas.
.@AdamAizer @almelccbs @CBSScottWhite We just saw #Festivus on a "National Food Day" calendar! #Seinfeld pic.twitter.com/BgHDl1IiV2
— The Cult of Nando (@CultOfNando) December 15, 2014
• Festivus has gone mainstream. The holiday has become a worldwide celebration, with people from Australia to Indonesia gathering around their own metal poles — or at least tweeting about them.
And like so many others will today, this morning in the @Local12 studio we gathered around the #Festivus Pole. pic.twitter.com/RhNJY9e3Pl
— Bob Herzog (@Bob_Herzog) December 23, 2014
• The pole was not part of O’Keefe’s original “holiday.” Another “Seinfeld” writer came up with the idea for the unadorned pole because, as George Constanza put it, "I find tinsel very distracting.” The real symbol of the holiday was a clock in a bag nailed to the wall in the O’Keefe home. “I don’t know why,” he said.
It's made from aluminum. A very high strength to weight ratio. #Festivus #Seinfeld pic.twitter.com/w9h6g0lzw8
— Festivus Web (@festivusweb) December 13, 2014
• The feats of strength weren’t part of the O’Keefe tradition, either. “I was not forced to wrestle my father,” O’Keefe said. “If I had, I would’ve been raised by the state of New York.”
Alright guys - show us your FEATS OF STRENGTH! Ridiculousness definitely encouraged. #Festivus @SeinfeldTV pic.twitter.com/HfXyJFldQv
— Crackle (@Crackle) December 17, 2014
• Another Festivus miracle! “Although it is not an official element of the holiday or its celebration," Mark Nelson notes on FestivusWeb.com, “the phenomenon of the Festivus Miracle is mentioned twice in the original episode. An obvious sendup to the phrase ‘Christmas Miracle,’ both manifestations of Seinfeld's ‘Festivus Miracle’ were caused by Kramer.”
1 day 'til #Festivus. #Seinfeld pic.twitter.com/aebOOqdmoT
— Seinfeld (@SeinfeldTV) December 22, 2014
• Seinfeld himself still gets a kick out of it.
Happy Festivus to all! I know it’s not without controversy, but here is my gift: the “Interview” at Crackle.https://t.co/HvAK4fPDvI
— Jerry Seinfeld (@JerrySeinfeld) December 23, 2014
Seinfeld gave fans another gift on Festivus — a rare standup set on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon":