Dec. 23 still comes up once a year, which means it’s time to celebrate Festivus, the non-secular holiday introduced in the 1997 Seinfeld episode “The Strike.” The holiday was created by author Daniel O’Keefe, whose son, Dan O’Keefe, co-wrote the episode. Seinfeld fans have adopted the holiday, excitedly celebrating every year.
In “The Strike,” the holiday is explained as a holiday Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller) came up with during George’s (Jason Alexander) childhood to protest the commercialization of the holiday season. Although O’Keefe’s original holiday had no set date, Frank always held his holiday on Dec. 23. The holiday’s traditions included the Festivus pole, dinner during the “Airing of Grievances” and the Feats of Strength. There are also “Festivus miracles,” declared by Kramer (Michael Richards) during the dinner at the Costanzas’ home.
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Since Festivus is the most famous part of the episode, it is a little strange that it was titled “The Strike.” The title refers to Kramer suddenly deciding to return to his old job at H&H Bagels after deciding his strike was over. Festivus comes up when George tells Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) that he just received a Festivus card from his father, prompting Jerry to explain the origins of the holiday. Kramer becomes fascinated and urges Frank to revive the holiday.
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Dan O’Keefe, who went on to write for Veep and Silicon Valley, has talked about the origins of the holiday countless times. In 2005, he even published The Real Festivus: The True Story Behind America’s Favorite Made-up Holiday, a memoir about the origins of the holiday. Some of the traditions in the episode were made-up, including the Festivus pole, which O’Keefe credited Seinfeld writer Jeff Schaffer with creating.
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While on The Daily Beast‘s Fever Dreams podcast earlier this month, O’Keefe said the one “real” Festivus tradition that made it to the episode was the Airing of the Grievances. “It was just a very formalized setting for yelling at us,” O’Keefe recalled. “Yeah, growing up, myself and my two brothers were in a form of child abuse that yet wasn’t recognized as such by the state of New York, induced to perform seasonal rituals.”
Watching ‘The Strike’ on Festivus
O’Keefe tried to put the memories of the real Festivus behind him, but when his colleagues heard about it, the real Jerry Seinfeld thought it was hilarious and wanted it for the show. “I tried to dissuade them as convincingly as I could, saying, ‘I have the greatest love and respect for the show. I don’t think you want to do that to it. It’s done nothing to deserve that.’ But they said, ‘Look, it can go in your episode or someone else’s.’ So I figure, f— it, if this has to be smeared onto the world, that I might as well be the hand doing the smearing.”
A fan built their own Festivus pole
Festivus has long outgrown just an O’Keefe family holiday. There’s even a whole website dedicated to it, FestivusWeb.com, which includes all the rules to celebrating.
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“The Strike” and all episodes of Seinfeld are now available to stream on Netflix.
Jason Alexander celebrates!
Jason Alexander marked the holiday this year. “Get out the poles and grievances. Happy Festivus, y’all,” he tweeted.
