--- description: Seinfeld is just the beginning of Festivus, the unique holiday that's become a new tradition title: The Origins of Festivus, The Festival For The Rest of Us image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt127db0c90aa19a6d/6988b3e30b72e3d67a6ec217/seinfeld-festivus.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Origins of Festivus, the Festival For the Rest of Us by [Melissa Locker](/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 23, 2016 6:34 PM CUT  SEINFELD -- Season 9 -- Pictured: (l-r) Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer, Jason Alexander as George Costanza, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Elaine Benes, Jerry Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld (Photo by Andrew Eccles/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images) SEINFELD -- Season 9 -- Pictured: (l-r) Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer, Jason Alexander as George Costanza, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Elaine Benes, Jerry Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld (Photo by Andrew Eccles/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)Andrew Eccles—NBC/Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 23, 2016 6:34 PM CUT Happy Festivus! Have you aired your grievances or demonstrated your feats of strength around the pole yet? If that sentence [made no sense to you](http://time.com/2951961/seinfeld-generation-gap/?iid=sr-link8 "undefined"), allow us to explain why every year on December 23rd, the internet is taken over with odes to Festivus, the festival for the rest of us. The holiday drew national attention thanks to [_Seinfeld_](http://time.com/4573689/stephen-bannon-seinfeld/?iid=sr-link5 "undefined"). In a 1997 [episode](http://time.com/3839734/seinfeld-streaming-hulu-on-demand/?iid=sr-link9 "undefined") titled “[The Strike](http://www.hulu.com/watch/807635 "undefined")”, which aired during the show’s ninth season, George Costanza’s father, Frank (Jerry Stiller), decided he was staging a one-man war on Christmas. In lieu of celebrating a crassly commercialized holiday, Frank was going to start his own tradition—Festivus. “Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son,” explained Frank in the show. “I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way.” With that, Festivus was born. The holiday is celebrated on December 23rd, because Frank wanted “to get a leg up on Christmas.” To mark the occasion, an aluminum pole is set up in the living room or backyard—the Festivus pole, which “requires no decoration,” according to Frank. After a [Festivus meal](http://festivusweb.com/festivus-dinner.htm "undefined"), celebrants must air their grievances with each other and engage in feats of strength, like wrestling. While most people know the holiday from [_Seinfeld_](http://time.com/3930844/seinfeld-hulu-its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia/?iid=sr-link4 "undefined")_,_ it’s origins actually go back much further to the family history of a member of [the show’s](http://time.com/3933418/hulu-seinfeld-apartment-jerry-new-york/?iid=sr-link10 "undefined") staff. Writer Dan O’Keefe’s father invented the holiday when O’Keefe was about eight years old. He grew up celebrating Festivus, complete with feats of strength and the airing of grievances, but no Festivus pole, which was an addition invented by the show. According to an interview with O’Keefe in [_Mother Jones_](http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/12/festivus-pole-protest-christmas-seinfeld-dan-okeefe-fox-news "undefined"), he didn’t really want to include his family’s secrets on TV, but when some of the other writers found out about [Festivus](http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/12/23/celebrating-festivus-a-guide-to-the-holiday-created-for-the-rest-of-us/?iid=sr-link2 "undefined"), they forced him to work it into an episode and share its brilliant weirdness with the world. He finally agreed, including both the traditions and the holiday’s tagline, “a Festival for the Rest of Us. “\[That\] was an actual family Festivus motto,” O’Keefe explained in an interview with the [_Washington Post_](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/12/16/DI2009121603245.html "undefined")_._ “Referring initially to those remaining after the death of my father’s mother, and then coming to mean in general a forward-looking focus on life and the living, i.e. ‘Let the dead bury the dead’. ” After the episode aired and Festivus started to be celebrated outside of the O’Keefe family, its inventor was awestruck. “Have we accidentally invented a cult?” he [wondered](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/fashion/fooey-to-the-world-festivus-is-come.html "undefined") to the New York _Times_. Nowadays, Festivus is celebrated from [coast to coast](http://time.com/4160617/festivus-gay-poles/?iid=sr-link1 "undefined") and, in particular, [on the internet](https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/812316019385663488 "undefined"). For more information about the origins of Festivus, check out O’Keefe’s book, [_The Real Festivus._](https://books.google.ca/books/about/The%5FReal%5FFestivus.html?id=6NShbwJmXugC&hl=en "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4617553/festivus-holiday-origins-seinfeld/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4617553/festivus-holiday-origins-seinfeld/"},"headline":"The Origins of Festivus, the Festival For the Rest of Us","datePublished":"2016-12-23T18:34:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:44.034Z","description":"Seinfeld is just the beginning of this unique holiday","url":"https://time.com/4617553/festivus-holiday-origins-seinfeld/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Seinfeld","Holidays","Jerry Seinfeld"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt127db0c90aa19a6d/6988b3e30b72e3d67a6ec217/seinfeld-festivus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt127db0c90aa19a6d/6988b3e30b72e3d67a6ec217/seinfeld-festivus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Seinfeld","caption":"Seinfeld","creditText":"Andrew Eccles—NBC/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4617553/festivus-holiday-origins-seinfeld/","name":"The Origins of Festivus, the Festival For the Rest of Us"}}]}] ```