It’s entertaining when life imitates art, particularly when the art is Seinfeld.
Gather around the Festivus pole and listen to a tale about a real holiday made fictional and then real again, a tale that touches on philosophy, King Lear, the pool at the Chateau Marmont hotel, a paper bag with a clock inside and, oh yes, a television show about nothing.
The first surprise is that from Tampa Bay, Fla., to Washington, from Austin, Tex., to Oxford, Ohio, many real people are holding parties celebrating Festivus, a holiday most believe was invented on an episode of “Seinfeld” first broadcast the week before Christmas in 1997.
“More and more people are familiar with what Festivus is, and it’s growing,” said Jennifer Galdes, a Chicago restaurant publicist who organized her first Festivus party three years ago. “This year many more people, when they got the invite, responded with, `Will there be an airing of the grievances and feats of strength?’ ”
Those two rituals — accusing others of being a disappointment and wrestling — are traditions of Festivus as explained on the show by the character Frank Costanza. On that episode he tells Kramer that he invented the holiday when his children were young and he found himself in a department store tug of war with another Christmas shopper over a doll. “I realized there had to be a better way,” Frank says.
As it turns out, the Seinfeld writer who inserted Festivus into that classic episode was borrowing from, believe it or not, real-life experiences.
The actual inventor of Festivus is Dan O’Keefe, 76, whose son Daniel, a writer on “Seinfeld,” appropriated a family tradition for the episode. The elder Mr. O’Keefe was stunned to hear that the holiday, which he minted in 1966, is catching on. “Have we accidentally invented a cult?” he wondered.
Maybe.
I should add that, as a secularist who doesn’t celebrate any of the religiously-based December holidays, I love the idea of “Festivus for the rest of us.” People get together, exchange gifts, and kvetch. What’s not to like? Indeed, I actually checked a couple of local greeting-card shops this year to see if anyone was making Festivus cards that I could send to like-minded friends and family members. No such luck.
Note to Hallmark: There’s money to be made here.