'A Festivus for the rest of us': The real, 'bizarre' story behind the Seinfeld episode

What's the significance of Dec. 23? A Festivus for the rest of us, of course!

You might know Festivus, the quirky secular holiday, from its feature in the 1997 "Seinfeld" episode, "The Strike." In it, George Costanza, played by Jason Alexander, talks about the ridiculous, anti-Christmas holiday his father, Frank, made up when he was a kid.

As shown in the beloved sitcom, Festivus, celebrated on Dec. 23, is the Christmas alternative for those fed up with the consumerism of the traditional religious holiday. Instead of a tree decked out in lights, there's an aluminum pole. Instead of a Christmas feast, there's an "airing of grievances," during which you share a meal with family and tell them all the ways they disappointed you over the year.

Frank Costanza, played by Jerry Stiller, delivers the signature motto in the episode: "A Festivus for the rest of us!"

But beyond its "Seinfeld" screen time, did you know Festivus is a legitimate holiday that carries some dark origins, and it's recognized by people all across the country?

Here's a crash course on the Dec. 23 occasion.

When and how did Festivus begin?

The running joke on "Seinfeld," that Festivus was dreamt up by a father and later passed down to his son, is entirely true.

"Seinfeld" writer Dan O'Keefe introduced Festivus to the show based on a tradition his dad, Daniel O'Keefe, started as early as 1966, when Dan was a kid.

According to lore, Dan's father invented the holiday for the very same reasons echoed in the sitcom episode: to have a secular occasion void of the consumerism that often characterizes Christmas. The O'Keefe family is thought to have first rang in Festivus in 1966, based on the anniversary of Daniel's first date with his future wife, Deborah.

The original Festivus traditions

Only some of the Festivus traditions in the "Seinfeld" episode are true, according to Dan O'Keefe and his 2005 book, “The Real Festivus.”

"It was entirely more peculiar than on the show," O'Keefe told The New York Times in 2004. He said his family never set up an aluminum pole, but there were wrestling matches between him and his two brothers – dubbed "feats of strength" in the sitcom.

According to O'Keefe, his dad would hide a tape recorder in his coat and trick his sons into venting about their family members on tape (later, this was called the "airing of grievances" in the sitcom). O'Keefe also said there was a clock kept in a bag during the holiday, which he did not know the symbolic significance.

The real Festivus is more 'bizarre and sinister' than what's in 'Seinfeld'

The reality of the Dec. 23 holiday, O'Keefe wrote in "The Real Festivus," was far more "bizarre and sinister” than what's depicted in "Seinfeld."

“I mean this in the nicest way possible: My father was an undiagnosed bipolar, severe alcoholic who nonetheless was extremely high-functioning,” O'Keefe explained in an interview with the Daily Beast.

“We never knew when Festivus was. It was a floating holiday," he told The Journal News. "It appeared whenever my dad felt like it. You came home from school and there were weird things pinned to the walls, strange decorations, strange music playing and strange things being said, and it was on.”

Festivus is now celebrated across the country

Regardless of the nature of its origins, people across the country have adopted and celebrate Festivus in their own ways.

Some versions of Festivus offer fun for those who don't typically celebrate Christmas, like in the 2020 book by Martin Bodek "The Festivus Haggadah," which offers a fusion of Passover and Festivus.

In 2005, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle displayed a Festivus pole in his executive residence in Madison, Wisconsin. The governor's "Seinfeld"-inspired pole is now housed in the Wisconsin Historical Museum.

In 2012, Google introduced a custom search result for the term "Festivus," with the day's signature aluminum pole displayed down the list of search results.

Even newspapers have joined in on the fun. In 2016, the Tampa Bay Times became the first newspaper to ask its readers to submit Festivus grievances through its website, later publishing them Dec. 23. The outlet still solicits and publishes grievances from their readers each year.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Is Festivus real? The story behind the 'Seinfeld' holiday on Dec. 23