(NEXSTAR) — Are you tired of Christmas? Or maybe you don’t celebrate Hanukkah or the other winter holidays. If so, December 23 was your day.
Welcome to Festivus, the holiday for “the rest of us.”
The holiday was introduced by the ’90s sitcom, “Seinfeld.” As explained in the tenth episode of season nine, George Costanza’s father, played by the late Jerry Stiller, was not a fan of the commercialization or religious aspects of Christmas, so he created Festivus.
During Festivus, an aluminum pole is raised instead of a tree. When your family gathers for the traditional holiday meal of meatloaf on a bed of lettuce, you “air your grievances” with them, sharing all the ways they have disappointed you over the last year.
And if that isn’t enough for you, there are also “feats of strength” in which the head of the family wrestles with another person in attendance. Festivus doesn’t end until the head of the family has been pinned, according to FestivusWeb.com, a website run by Mark Nelson, author of “Festivus The Book: A Complete Guide to the Holiday for the Rest of Us.”
“Seinfeld” writer Dan O’Keefe explained during a podcast with The Daily Beast that the idea behind Festivus comes from his father, who also created his own holiday.
While it is unclear just how many people celebrate Festivus, games, shirts, and decorations for the holiday can be found on Amazon. Many were already tweeting about the pseudo-holiday on Wednesday night, or Festivus Eve.
The official Twitter account for the sitcom called on viewers to save a tree by celebrating Festivus, saying that for every photo posted to the platform with #FestivusSavesTrees, they’ll plant a tree. As of December 21, 5,000 trees have been saved.
