With just two more days until Christmas, fans of aSeinfeldare celebrating their own holiday. For legions of devotees, December 23 marks the “official” date of Festivus, which was featured on a Season 9 episode of the classic sitcom. To celebrate this special occasion,SeinfeldstarJason Alexandersent out a holiday greeting on social media. Here’s what he had to say.
“Happy Festivus to all. Make merry round your pole. Be strong. And try not to shout your grievances. May the Farce be w you.The Costanza’s”
What some fans might know is that “Festivus” originated back in the 1960s withDaniel O’Keefe, an author and the father ofDan O’Keefe, aSeinfeld writer. In the O’Keefe household, the holiday was put in place to celebrate Daniel’s first date with his future wife Deborah. The term “Festivus for the rest of us” came to be after the death ofDaniel O’Keefe’s mother Jeanette in 1976, with “the rest of us” referring to the living. The holiday became a phenomenon of sorts after theSeinfeldepisode “The Strike.”
TheSeinfeld episodefeatures Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), George (Jason Alexander) and Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) discussing the creation of Festivus by George’s father. During that episode, Kramer (Michael Richards) becomes interested in resurrecting the holiday when Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller) tells him how he created Festivus as an alternative holiday in response to the commercialization of Christmas. This leads to Frank resurrecting the holiday, much to the chagrin of his son, although George eventually tried to use this holiday to get out of some hot water at work.
Instead of giving Christmas presents to his office co-workers, he makes donation cards for a fake charity called The Human Fund. His boss, Mr. Kruger (Daniel von Bargen) donates $20,000 to the fake charity, which leads George to admit he’s made up this charity because he was afraid of being persecuted for his religious ideals, telling Kruger that he celebrates Festivus instead of Christmas. Kruger calls George’s bluff, to see this new Festivus dinner in action. Instead of a tree, Festivus features an aluminum pole with no decorations, and includes the Airing of Grievances, where each dinner party member reveals what they don’t like about one another, and the Feats of Strength.
Ever since “The Strike” episode, some die-hardSeinfeldfans started celebrating Festivus themselves, which will celebrate a big anniversary of its own next year. On August 16, 2025. “The Strike” will celebrate its 20th Anniversary, so it’s possible there may be some big Festivus plans in the works. That’s all speculation at this time, but it’s possible thatJason Alexandercould be part of these plans. Take a look atJason Alexander’s Festivus messive below onTwitter. We also have a video with all of the pertinent Festivus scenes from “The Strike” for you to celebrate this holiday.
