I was always attracted to the idea of Festivus, and I’m not surprised to see more and more people taking it seriously.
“My parents — my mother is Jewish, my father is Christian — have a Christmas tree set up,” said Casuso, 22. ‘They think I’m crazy. But I have a Festivus pole set up in the house. I also have a huge banner hanging up that says `Happy Festivus!’ And I took all the gifts from under their Christmas tree and put them under my Festivus pole.”
The Broward College student is now among the Festivus followers who, like [George] Constanza and his family on the show, feature a pole instead of a tree, air grievances instead of exchanging gifts and compete in feats of strength like wrestling instead of holiday hugs.
There’s even a book about the holiday.
Allen Salkin, author of Festivus: the Holiday for the Rest of Us, says the first thing he had to do in writing his book is convince doubters that Festivus is as real as any other holiday.
“Christmas is a holiday built around the birth of Christ,” Salkin says. “But certainly there were no Christmas trees in Jerusalem. Kwanzaa was created in what, 1966? That’s real. So I don’t get what isn’t real about families who chose to put up a pole and celebrate feats of strength and air grievances. It’s quirky. But that’s what we do with holidays — make them personal by adding quirky touches.”
My concern with the viability of Festivus really comes from the airing of grievances part of the tradition. The feats of strength part is good. When you get old you can just arm-wrestle. But I just don’t know whether you can have a centuries-long tradition that involves getting the extended family together so they can air their grievances with each other. I mean, we already have Chanukah and Christmas.
