Happy Festivus

Festivus is a holiday celebrated on the 23rd of December each year. It was instituted by a Queens, New York man named Frank Costanza as an alternative to the overly commercialized traditional holidays of December.

The Festivus celebration includes three major components:

The Festivus Pole - During Festivus, an unadorned aluminum pole is displayed, apparently in opposition to the commercialization of decorated Christmas trees. Mr. Constanza finds “tinsel distracting.”

The Airing of Grievances - At the Festivus dinner, the celebrant tells their friends and family all the instances where they disappointed the celebrant that year.

The Feats of Strength - The head of the family tests his or her strength against one participant of the head’s choosing. Festivus is not considered over until the head of the family has been pinned. Participants are allowed to decline to attempt to pin the head of the family only if they have something better to do instead.

History

: Frank Costanza, visionary.

The negative Christmas shopping experience which led to the creation of Festivus is recalled below in a conversation between Mr. Costanza and a Cosmo Kramer of Manhattan, New York:

Frank: Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. 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!

Kramer: What happened to the doll?

Frank: It was destroyed. But out of that, a new holiday was born. “A Festivus for the rest of us!”

Kramer: That musta been some kind of doll.

Frank: She was.

Human Fund

The Human Fund is a charity discovered by Frank Costanza’s son George. It appealed to him because instead of collecting donations for whales or stray dogs, he felt that real, live people could benefit from money. He also found that giving a donation to The Human Fund in someone’s name was a great alternative to typical holiday gifts.

A sample of such a donation card is found below.

humanfund