What is Festivus? Significance examined as Seinfeld-born ritual continues in the modern world

What began as a ‘made-up’ holiday in one of the episodes of the ‘90s sitcom Seinfeld is still trending today in the modern world. Ahead of Christmas 2025, people around the world celebrate something more than the usual Thanksgiving, Hanukkah (featured in one of the episodes of Friends), or other holiday gatherings. It’s Festivus. Although it seems like a made-up holiday event in the series, it has some real-life inspiration behind it.

While everyone celebrates Christmas with decorations and family, the frustrated character Frank Costanza, George’s father from Seinfeld, introduced Festivus on the show on December 23, 2025, two days before Christmas. Since then, people have picked up this satirical celebration from the screen into their lives and introduced it as a major themed ‘Festivus’ kind of vibe in holiday gatherings, where they perform the unrealistic rituals introduced by Frank in the sitcom. 

Seinfeld-born ritual Festivus, explained

Called ‘’A Festivus for the rest of us,’’ this unusual celebration was first introduced in Seinfeld season 9 episode 10, titled ‘’The Strike.” Frank Costanza, played by Jerry Stiller, joins in the Christmas festivities, but upon getting into a fight with a shop owner over a doll, he decides to create his own fictional festival, reacting to the pressure and over-commercialization of Christmas. 

Having said that, Frank even creates his own rituals and rules to be followed while celebrating Festivus. Acting as an alternative to the beloved and most-cherished season of the year, Festivus becomes Frank’s replacement for Christmas. Instead of decorating a fancy Christmas tree, one has to display a plain metal pole.

Along with this, Festivus also changes the usual warm family moments of Christmas, where people raise a toast to love and care. In Festivus, you do the opposite. Family members tell each other all the ways they disappointed one another over the year, a term Frank calls “Airing of Grievances.’’ Meatloaf is the traditional dish at Festivus, and the celebration ends with a one-on-one wrestling match (Feats of Strength), where Frank and his son George face each other on the show. 

What was the real inspiration for the writers to celebrate Festivus on Seinfeld?

The idea came from one of the show’s writers, Dan O’Keefe, who based it on a real family tradition started by his father in 1966. In real life, the O’Keefe family didn’t use a pole but did record grievances and had wrestling matches. This quirky custom later inspired a Seinfeld holiday episode aired on December 18, 1997. The show wanted to show something different from the usual Christmas and Thanksgiving celebrations. 

In the modern world, its relevance still lasts because it replaces the idea of perfect family gatherings. It allows people to share real emotions, as families often have grievances that are never spoken about. Festivus gives them a moment to talk and resolve these issues. It is a fun way to lighten gatherings and turn complaints into funny moments that bring families closer. 

According to reports by the History, they have shared a few instances where people have been seen celebrating Festivus. Among them is Senator Rand Paul’s story from Kentucky, where he celebrates every 23rd of December since 2013 as a way to share his complaints about government spending. Over time, this became an annual “Festivus Report,” where he lists spending he believes is wasteful. He calls this his “Airing of (spending) Grievances.”  

Fox News has interviewed Allen Salkin, who has featured and explained this fictitious celebration in the 2005 book "Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us." Salkin explained his stance on Festivus and said, 

"In the Christmas movies, everybody holds hands, and they talk about how much they love each other and Junior gets a new set of baseball cards or whatever. But what actually happens is families start grousing at each other and complaining about things that they have. It’s like Frank says in the TV show, ‘I got a lot of problems with you people.’ That is what actually happens in far more households across the world during the holidays… And it's human. It's a beautiful thing. We get to actually let these things come to the surface finally because we avoid that most of the year."

You can watch the Festivus episode, The Strike, on Netflix. The entire Seinfeld series is also available on Blu-Ray and 4K.