You know Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, and maybe Yule and Hogmanay, too. But do you recall one of the younger holidays born from a sitcom?
The secular holiday of Festivus is held on Dec. 23, celebrated by fans of the show “Seinfeld” since the 1997 episode “The Strike.”
First aired on Dec. 18, 1997, “The Strike” depicts an interaction between Jerry Seinfeld’s neighbor Kramer and George Costanza’s father, Frank, talking about a holiday Frank invented after trying to buy “a doll” for his young son.
An altercation between Frank Costanza and another man also reaching for the doll ends with the doll’s demise and an epiphany.
“A new holiday was born,” Frank Costanza tells Kramer. “A Festivus for the rest of us!”
The customs include a bare aluminum pole — “I find tinsel distracting,” Frank Costanza said, along with the airing of grievances and the feats of strength.
When the celebration is held at the end of the episode, it’s no spoiler or surprise (given past experience) that George cannot surpass his father during the feats of strength.
Of course, the episode’s air date conflicts with the typical day Festivus lands.
Having returned to work at a bagel shop after a years-long strike is settled, Kramer asks his manager to have Dec. 23 off for Festivus. His manager rejects the request, prompting Kramer to go back on strike and sabotage the shop before eventually returning to work and getting fired.
The popularity of the fictional holiday has led to celebrations across the world. In 2005, the Wagner Companies in Milwaukee fashioned aluminum poles and provided one to then-Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, which he displayed in the Executive Residence, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Wisconsin resident and “Animal House” actor Mark Metcalf, who played The Maestro in “Seinfeld,” displayed his own Wagner-made Festivus poles at his restaurant, the historical society noted.
On Dec. 6, 2010, former U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., held a Festivus-themed fundraiser in Washington D.C., Politico reported.
From Florida to Australia, the made-up holiday continued to pop up.
In 2022, even the official “Seinfeld” social media accounts chipped in to further Festivus’ popularity by sharing a change.org link petitioning for Festivus to become a national holiday.
In Salem, the 13th annual Festivus 5K Run for Autism was held on Dec. 15, according to the run’s organizers on Facebook. Cindy and Rick Johnson founded the race after their son entered the Northshore Education Consortium as a seventh grader.
“Our son was diagnosed on the spectrum when he was about five, and like most parents who have a child going through a health issue, we looked for ways to help others by giving back to the community,” Cindy Johnson told MassLive in 2023. “So what we did is we started this road race, we’re both runners and that’s a passion of ours.”
The run raises money for children with autism at the Northshore Education Consortium, where Cindy Johnson is the founder and president.
Big “Seinfeld” fans themselves, the Johnsons thought an “anti-holiday run,” in the spirit of Frank Costanza’s anti-consumerism that fueled Festivus, would add to the fun.
“Sometimes the holidays aren’t exactly what you want them to be, and this is a Festivus for the rest of us, as they say,” she previously said.
