Festivus:

Celebrated every year on the 23^rd of December, the Festivus is a day to relieve the financial pressure of the festive seasons during Christmas and New Year.

Twitter Hashtags:

#Festivus

Related: Other National Days Celebrated on December 23rd:

National Pfeffernusse Day

National Root Day

Why Festivus?

People often look forward to the holiday season, around Christmas where they can spend time with their near and dear ones. However along with the chance to celebrate comes the nerve-wracking thought of having to spend money on buying presents for everyone and hosting a party. And that is probably the thought which prompted the initiation of the Festivus.

Festivus is an occasion which gives people a reason to celebrate without having to spend too much money. It is in a way a celebration that gives a chance to let go of your grievances of the year while feasting upon simple food. While Festivus began as a simple family tradition it became a nationwide celebration with many people wanting to have a simple yet fun-filled holiday tradition.

We have plenty of festivals all around the year and every time a festival is around the corner, we have to go out shopping for the big feast, the presents and what not. While this is all in the merry, it is still quite stressful for many who find it tough to make ends meet. Especially in these times, when the festivals have been so commercialized and there is social pressure to add on. Festivus comes as a relief to these tough times offering you the perfect getaway from commercialized celebrations and to focus on a holiday that is only about family and friends. It is a celebration where you let out your grief and enjoy it to the fullest at a lesser cost.

How Can We Celebrate Festivus:

Even though Festivus started as a simple family tradition, it has grown up into a popular tradition across the nation and there are many ways to enjoy this day. Traditional Festivus is quite simple and easy to celebrate. It is an alternative way to celebrate for people who do not like the commercialized holidays and want to escape from the pressures of shopping for the holidays. Let us first take a look at how the traditional Festivus celebration is done and you only need a few things to celebrate this festival too.

1. In the episode of Seinfeld, they use an aluminum pole instead of the usual Christmas tree. This is quite easy to find and can be easily available for anyone. So the first step is to find a metal pole that is available already in your basement or your garage or your attic. The festival is all about doing it at a lesser cost, so you need to find a pole at your place rather than buying it. Of course, you can also find a pole online now thanks to the rising popularity of the celebration. Another option is to get an aluminum pole from the local shop and fix it to a stand yourself. And there is also the choice to let go of the pole itself as it was actually not part of the original celebration by the O’Keefe family.
2. If you do choose to have a pole, then you would be happy to know that the pole doesn’t need any kind of decorations as the occasion is all about simplicity, to begin with. And as per Frank Costanza, it is distracting to have tinsels. So you just need to have a bare pole in your house for Festivus.
3. The traditional method involves you to put a clock in a bag and then nail it to the wall. This is part of the inspiration from the real family tradition of the O’Keefe family. This is optional but it would just add to the merriment.
4. The dinner is had with family and friends which can involve turkey but if you want to go by the tradition as per the Seinfeld episode then you can opt for a meatloaf over a bed of lettuce to enjoy with the family. Or you can also choose to go with the options of beef stew, ham, lamb chops for the dinner as was the tradition with the O’Keefe family with pecan pie alongside.
5. Here is the fun part as you don’t have to follow a particular tradition for the food to have on Festivus. You can choose to have any food of your choice or choose from the many foods served in the different episodes of Festivus from sausages, pizzas, shrimps, egg rolls, bagels, and risottos. It is a festival that focuses only on your convenience and hence you can make it memorable with any kind of food.
6. The next part is quite interesting as you would then have to be part of the Airing of Grievances. This is where everyone lets out their grievances of the past year and the grievances they have on the people around the table. They can share their disappointments also with others and let out their frustrations at this time. As you let your disappointments out you start feeling better with your mind feeling much lighter. Of course, unlike the Seinfeld episode, it is better to be a little considerate as you air out your grievance.
7. And lastly, you have the Feats of strength ceremony. The head of the table will choose any person from the table and wrestle with them. The ceremony only ends when the head of the table is pinned and the festivities go on until then. And the festivities end with the head of the table pinned. If you feel that wrestling is not your cup of tea, then you can also go for a simpler version like arm wrestling, or a simple board game to find the right winner. No matter the game that you choose for the event, do remember to take pictures to cherish these memories. And of course, you can share your gaming choices online with a #Festivus to the post.

The above is a simple way to celebrate the Festivus and yet it is also the way it was done by the founder of the holiday Daniel O’keefe and as you would find it stated in the episode of Seinfeld.

An alternative to the now overly commercialized Christmas celebrations, Festivus doesn’t have a specific way of celebration. You can match it to suit your individual preferences and comfort. However you celebrate the occasion of Festivus, you can take a nice snap of your celebrations and share it with everyone with a #Festivus on your social media account.

You can simply make it a day to check in with your friends on how they are and spend time with them. Do share your experience with this Festivus with everyone and let us know how you would love to celebrate your holidays with a tag #Festivus on your social media account.

Interesting facts about Festivus:

Festivus is a holiday created for those who don’t find enjoyment in celebrating the traditional holidays or do not want to spend too much money, effort, and time on the holiday season. The idea behind Festivus is quite simple which is to bring enjoyment at lesser efforts and of course to bring the family and loved ones closers. It is a way to be against commercialism and leave your shopping and other stresses behind you. On this Festivus, here are some interesting facts about Festivus, how it was celebrated, and about Seinfeld as well.

1. Seinfeld TV series featured the first mention of Festivus in the episode named as “The Strike”. However, the celebration date goes back in time much before that. It was a family tradition followed by the family of Daniel O’Keefe in the 1960s.
2. The episode on Seinfeld which mentions Festivus was based on the personal experience of Dan O’Keefe, who was part of the writing team for the series. However, the writer was not into the idea of including this as part of the episode. In fact, he states that he was against that idea. The idea was pitched up by his younger brother, the writer of Bruce Almighty, Mark O’Keefe who mentioned it to the writers of the Seinfeld TV series.
3. While the celebration is now currently held on the 23^rd of December, when the celebration actually began there was no set date for it. It was done on any day convenient to the family in December. According to Daniel O’Keefe even they didn’t know that which day was Festivus until the time they stepped off the school bus.
4. According to the elder O’Keefe, he started on this celebration as a way to commemorate the first time he went on a date with his wife Deborah. With time the commemoration event started becoming much more endearing to the family as a celebration on its own. And with the inclusion into the episode of Seinfeld, it became a celebration for the entire nation to remember.
5. The aluminum pole which is used in the celebration of Festivus is also the symbol that represents the festival or rather the “not so festive” celebration.
6. The events remarking the Festivus are quite simple and easy to follow for anyone and are easy to follow through too.
7. The father of the writer Dan O’Keefe, the writer who mentioned this event in the episode of Seinfeld was an editor at the Readers Digest.
8. Dan O’Keefe did not know until the age of eight that Festivus is not a real festival or a holiday and neither was it celebrated by other kids in school.
9. Florida Capitol building has a Festivus pole standing tall next to the Christmas tree, where the pole is made out of empty cans of Pabst Blue ribbon. This happened in the year 2013 when Chaz Stevens petitioned to include a Festivus pole in the building alongside the Christmas tree.
10. Festivus was not always welcomed with open hands across the nation. There have been instances where people showed rage over the displays of Festivus celebrations.
11. The entire Festivus celebration is shown only for a span of three minutes on the Seinfeld episode but it apparently took the team about six hours to film it.
12. Ben & Jerry offered a limited-edition flavor called the “Festivus: A Flavor for the Rest of Us” in the year 2000 which was a commemoration of this festival or rather the anti-festival.
13. There was a beer by the name Festivus released by a brewery in Pennsylvania which was also in honor of this interesting occasion.
14. Festivus was part of the political fundraiser campaigns by Eric Cantor, a former Republican Congressman from Virginia in the years 2010 and 2011. While he did make use of the festival to invite people for sharing their grievances, it did not pan out well with protesters turning up at the event.

History of Festivus:

The beginning of this festival is quite amusing as it did not start as a commemoration of a specific date or event. It began simply as a family tradition and then has continued to become a famous day to be celebrated by the entire country. The day was first conceived by Daniel O’Keefe in the year 1996 when he celebrated this day with his family. But that was not what made this a day to be a nationwide celebration. The first time this was mentioned was in an episode of Seinfeld and the day has since then been quite popular.

The history of the word Festivus itself has its roots in the language of Latin, where the word “festum” refers to feast. And yet the festival itself was made up by a family man in the year 1996 as a way for his family to celebrate together.

When you are stressed with spending money on occasions, and you get a festival that requires simple festivities, then you would be more than happy to welcome it. Festivus is such a celebration which requires not much from you to make the best day out of it.