It was 20 years ago on December 18 when the Seinfeld episode "The Strike" aired on NBC. It is considered to be one of the top Seinfeld episodes of all time because of the wacky holiday "Festivus" that is featured in it. Instead of celebrating Christmas, George Costanza's (Jason Alexander) father Frank (Jerry Stiller) created his own holiday during the Christmas season and named it Festivus. There are no trees, lights, Santa Claus or anything during Festivus but instead an aluminum pole with "the airing of grievances" and "feats of strength."

Since the episode aired, the strange holiday has been celebrated on December 23 (when it takes place in the episode) by fans alike.

There have been aluminum poles standing in houses and plenty of grievances aired. This was released before the age of social media, but today "Festivus" is a popular trend on Facebook and Twitter.

How it started

The whole episode kind of makes fun of Christmas commercialism, which is why Frank says he started the holiday Festivus, to begin with. He describes the holiday to Kramer (Michael Richards) while he is working at a bagel shop. There is no stress about buying gifts or decorating (other than the aluminum pole). There is just the honest roasting of family and friends to their faces at the dinner table and then physically fighting each other.

The interesting thing about Festivus is that it was not just created on the spot for the show.

It actually originated in the family of one of the episode's writers, Dan O'Keefe. The holiday that began in O'Keefe's home was adopted into the plot of "The Strike" as he is credited as both a writer and story editor. O'Keefe was in the same position as George was in the episode with his father being the one to create Festivus, except O'Keefe embraced the holiday while George hated it.

The original Festivus traditions celebrated by O'Keefe's family were a little different than what is seen in Seinfeld. There were no poles but they did air grievances and yell the famous cheer, "A Festivus for the rest of us!" There is even a book on the complete origins and traditions of Festivus.

Cultural popularity

Today people celebrate Festivus like it is seen in the episode.

People have taken to social media to post pictures of aluminum poles and air grievances about people or things. Even Senator Rand Paul took to Twitter and told President Trump in a tweet telling the Commander-in-Chief to stop airing grievances today. Many other famous people have referenced the holiday on social media as well.

For many good things that happen today, many will exclaim, "It's a Festivus miracle!"
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