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Oh Festivus, oh Festivus, how calming is your aluminum pole. Doesn't have quite the ring of Tannenbaum, but Festivus isn't as commercialized either. That's the idea, at least. Festivus is a fictional holiday created by a sitcom dad to combat the shopping-crazed turn of Christmas. This anti-holiday premiered in a 1997 episode of "Seinfeld." Frank Costanza, father of Seinfeld's pal George, invented Festivus one winter. Costanza became disillusioned with Christmas after fighting to buy a doll for his son as a Christmas gift. Instead of
buying lots of presents and hanging "very distracting" tinsel everywhere, Festivus is celebrated around a bare pole with a family meal, featuring the Airing of Grievances and followed by Feats of Strength. The holiday is complete when the head of the household has been wrestled and pinned to the floor. "Seinfeld" writer Daniel O'Keefe added the holiday as a plot device in the TV show, but it was his father who truly created Festivus in 1966. At the original Festivus holidays, the family aired their grievances into a tape recorder and held wrestling matches. The grievance recording may have
been inspired by a Samuel Beckett play. O'Keefe Sr. also wrote a sociology book on cults and social pressures, and his research may have influenced Festivus. Now that you know the roots of the traditions, you can relax, pour a glass of Festivus wine, and get ready to rumble.
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