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'Festivus' Gains Standing Across Country
WLTX-TV NEWS ^ | 12-21-2005

Posted on 12/21/2005 11:36:24 AM PST by Cagey

ALTERNATIVE CELEBRATIONS: Pole for the holidays

Celebrating the holidays with a diverse group of friends can get tricky. That's where Festivus, the "holiday for the rest of us," comes in.

Invented in 1966 by a Reader's Digest editor but made popular through a 1997 "Seinfeld" episode, the fictional celebration has been brought to life by fervent supporters across the country - including Clarkston native Blake Coe.

According to the "Seinfeld" episode, Festivus is celebrated on Dec. 23 and is marked by a tinsel-free aluminum pole, feats of strength - like wrestling - and the airing of grievances, during which followers tell loved ones how they have disappointed them during the year.

Though Coe, 24, also celebrates Christmas, he said Festivus is a welcome break from the holidays.

"With all of the things that now make the Christmas season about political correctness, over-commercialization and greed, it is refreshing that Festivus separates itself from that," said Coe, who has been celebrating the fictional holiday for five years.

Coe recently moved to Chicago, but he'll be home in Clarkston for Festivus. On Saturday, Coe's parents, Sally and Ken, put up the pole. Grandma was there, too.

Coe said he bought the aluminum pole - a centerpiece of Festivus celebrations - a few years ago at Home Depot for $5. However, merchants are now selling them online for almost $40. "I wish we had thought of that at the time," Blake Coe said, laughing.

The term "Festivus" yields more than 20,000 Web sites in monthly Google searches, said Allen Salkin, who tracked the figures for his new book, "Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us," which was released in October by Warner Books.

"Nobody else is writing about it, but it is out there - a very deep and widespread subculture," Salkin said. "I think it has to do with a need for tolerance and a holiday where you don't exclude anybody."

Coe and his friends observe the feats of strength by holding annual billiards and video game tournaments. As for the airing of grievances - "we pretty much go around and talk about each other's less finer moments," said Pat Heber, a Clarkston resident who recently graduated from Michigan State University.

Typically, the feats of strength, or aggression-absorbing activities, are held immediately after the airing of grievances, but there are no hard and fast rules, Salkin said.

That flexibility makes it easy for everyone to celebrate Festivus, he added.

But not everyone will. Elizabeth Zill of Frankenmuth, who is featured in Salkin's book, said one Festivus celebration was enough for her family. A few years ago, Zill strung lights around a metal coat rack and presented it to her teenage daughter as an alternative to the Christmas tree the family never bought.

"Oh, my daughter was ticked at me," Zill said, laughing. "George didn't find it too amusing either," she added, referring to "Seinfeld" character George Costanza (Jason Alexander), who was less than thrilled about his father's idea. "I have a George."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: South Carolina
KEYWORDS: festivus; kwaanza; seinfeld; waronchristmas
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Sally and Ken Coe put up their Festivus pole. Ken Coe sees it as "no frills, just an opportunity to bring together friends and family." Using a metal pole with no decorations was popularized on the long-running sitcom "Seinfeld."

1 posted on 12/21/2005 11:36:25 AM PST by Cagey
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To: Cagey
Pathetic. Living one's life by a syndicated sitcom.

These are the kind of people who constituted "flash mobs" during their millisecond of popularity.

2 posted on 12/21/2005 11:38:29 AM PST by wideawake
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To: hobbes1; Gabz; WhyisaTexasgirlinPA

A very merry Festivus to all of you.


3 posted on 12/21/2005 11:38:38 AM PST by NeoCaveman (The United States Senate is the best argument for a unicameral legislature)
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To: Larry Lucido; MotleyGirl70

For the rest of us, only two more days.


4 posted on 12/21/2005 11:39:03 AM PST by Cagey (Some men are Baptists, others Catholics, my father was an Oldsmobile man.)
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To: Cagey

As faux holidays goes Festivus beats Kwaanza hands-down.


5 posted on 12/21/2005 11:39:31 AM PST by Semper Paratus
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To: Cagey
As for the airing of grievances - "we pretty much go around and talk about each other's less finer moments," said Pat Heber, a Clarkston resident who recently graduated from Michigan State University.

I understand that she's a graduate of MSU's prestigious English Grammar program.

6 posted on 12/21/2005 11:40:05 AM PST by wideawake
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To: Cagey

Happy Winter Solstice Day!


7 posted on 12/21/2005 11:40:15 AM PST by Professional Engineer (Why does everyone want to be Frank? What's wrong with being John or Pete?)
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To: Cagey
That's where Festivus comes in.

Great. Another fake holiday so we can keep anti-Christian liberals and other idiots happy.

No thanks. I think it's time we forced those jackasses to practice the tolerance they preach.


8 posted on 12/21/2005 11:40:36 AM PST by Prime Choice (We are RepubliCANs, not RepubliCAN'Ts.)
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To: Cagey

Festivus has more legitimacy than Kwanzaa.


9 posted on 12/21/2005 11:40:41 AM PST by Disambiguator (Making accusations of racism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.)
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To: Cagey
the airing of grievances, during which followers tell loved ones how they have disappointed them during the year.

Hmm, I thought that's what family Christmas was all about already.

10 posted on 12/21/2005 11:41:01 AM PST by mtbopfuyn (Legality does not dictate morality... Lavin)
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To: Cagey

11 posted on 12/21/2005 11:41:12 AM PST by dawn53
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To: dubyaismypresident; hobbes1; Gabz; WhyisaTexasgirlinPA

And a Happy New Yearning!


12 posted on 12/21/2005 11:41:47 AM PST by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll.)
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To: Cagey
...who has been celebrating the fictional holiday for five years.

It's not fictional if enough people celebrate it. Look at Kwaanza!

13 posted on 12/21/2005 11:42:10 AM PST by Lekker 1 ("Computers in the future may have only 1000 vacuum tubes..." - Popular Mechanics, March 1949)
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To: Cagey
"I think it has to do with a need for tolerance and a holiday where you don't exclude anybody."

It is a joke on a sitcom...pleazzzzze!

And BTW

HAPPY KWANZAA!

14 posted on 12/21/2005 11:42:11 AM PST by frogjerk (LIBERALISM - Being miserable for no good reason)
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To: wideawake

But Festivus is more real than Kwanzaa.


15 posted on 12/21/2005 11:42:18 AM PST by KC_Conspirator
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To: Cagey

" "Nobody else is writing about it, but it is out there - a very deep and widespread subculture," Salkin said. "I think it has to do with a need for tolerance and a holiday where you don't exclude anybody." "


Why feel excluded? Christmas isn't an exclusive club for practicing Christians. If you're not Christian, then enjoy the holiday on other merits than the religion aspect! Nothing is stopping you. I can enjoy Halloween without being a pagan or practicing witchcraft. If you feel excluded it's only because you've excluded yourself. I could go to France, if I were to ever want to go there again which I doubt, and feel a part of Bastille Day if I let myself or I could go to Israel and feel a part of Hannukah if I wanted. Or I could just pout and say it doesn't apply to me and be bitter and accuse others of excluding me. But the truth is it's only my attitude that would have excluded me.


16 posted on 12/21/2005 11:42:53 AM PST by MikeA
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To: wideawake
Do you have any scotch, bourbon, or tequila nearby?

If so, please pour yourself a double.

17 posted on 12/21/2005 11:43:01 AM PST by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll.)
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To: Cagey
So "Festivus" is an annual gripe session with a metal pole in the middle. Did I miss anything?

Wow. If that isn't worth celebrating, what is?

18 posted on 12/21/2005 11:43:18 AM PST by TChris ("Unless you act, you're going to lose your world." - Mark Steyn)
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To: Cagey

"With all of the things that now make the Christmas season about political correctness, over-commercialization and greed, it is refreshing that Festivus separates itself from that," said Coe, who has been celebrating the fictional holiday for five years.


Coe said he bought the aluminum pole - a centerpiece of Festivus celebrations - a few years ago at Home Depot for $5. However, merchants are now selling them online for almost $40. "I wish we had thought of that at the time," Blake Coe said, laughing.


I guess the "over-commercialization and greed" really bothers him.


19 posted on 12/21/2005 11:43:42 AM PST by freedomfiter2
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To: Professional Engineer
Happy Winter Solstice Day!

At 1:30 I medidated on the astonishing fact that the sun was angled at Zenith above the Tropic of Capricon.

Breathtaking!

20 posted on 12/21/2005 11:44:02 AM PST by Semper Paratus
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