Monday, December 20, 2004

A Happy Festivus to All!

This Thursday marks Festivus, the hilarious anti-commercial holiday popularized by Seinfeld and created in real life by Dan O'Keefe. Yesterday, the NYT ran a front-page article on the Fashion & Style section, complete with a photo of Kramer and his protest sign "Festivus Yes! Bagels No!"

For even more particulars, check out the Wikipedia encyclopedia entry:

Festivus is a fictional holiday popularized by Frank Costanza (played by Jerry Stiller) on the popular American television comedy Seinfeld. Some fans of the show now celebrate this fictional holiday in real life.

Festivus is held on 23 December of each year. It was created as a response to the commercialism of the other December holidays. Its slogan is "A Festivus for the rest of us."

The Festivus idea came to the show through writer Daniel O'Keefe. His father, Dan O'Keefe, invented the holiday in 1966.

Main elements of Festivus

The Festivus celebration includes three major components:

The Festivus Pole. During Festivus, an unadorned aluminum pole is displayed, apparently in opposition to the commercialization of decorated Christmas trees, and because the holiday's creator, Frank Costanza, "find[s] tinsel distracting."

The Airing of Grievances. At the Festivus dinner, the celebrant tells their friends and family all of the instances where they disappointed the celebrant that year.

The Feats of Strength. The head of the family tests his or her strength against one participant of the head's choosing. Festivus is not considered over until the head of the family has been pinned. A participant is allowed to decline to attempt to pin the head of the family only if they have something better to do instead.

No comments: