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."
Hey. I "is" Christian. I'm secure in my faith but I find satire funny. Sorry:')
Oh, come on, CS, like you wouldn’t get tire of the Buddhist New Year, Visakah Puja, Magha Puja Day, Asalha Puja Day, Uposatha Pavarana Day, the Kathina Ceremony, Anapanasati Day, Abhidhamma Day, Loy Krathong, the Ploughing Festival, the Elephant Festival, the Festival of the Tooth, Ulambana, Avalokitesvara’s birthday, and Bodhi Day. :-)
Now THAT is funny!
Lighten the hell up.
Thanks for the unsolicited advice. I'll think about why you think I have a "heavy" attitude. Oh never mind, why the heck would I care what you think?
Some of us don't really care for the Christmas season, and this is a good fun thing that makes the holidays a bit more bearable.
Who's stopping you? I haven't even criticized the "celebration". Are we on the same thread?
I'm disapointed in you, and I am certain that I could pin you in a wrestling match.
Your disappointment crushes me. But I fear you couldn't pin me, I never wrestle.
Only once.
Before you can teach, you need to have some knowledge. You flunk.
You know those angels with blowing horns that light up? Well, I put one in each front window. Several people have made a remark about no lights up and one remarked that the angels must have really took me a long time to just stick them in the window. I just shrugged and said I hadn't got around to putting the lights up yet. I then asked if they wanted to hang them for me. No takers. No more comments.:') You might try it. Of course if you bluff you might get decorations but I doubt it.
Freaky looking.
So what is it? Do you believe in God or not? Aren't you proud of your theology? LOL
Are you the one giving or receiving that brutal blow.
I'm not sure on the Statute of Limitations for Canadian law, so I'll just stick with that I might be in that pic.
I'm not hip enough to celebrate Festivus. Plus, I can't come up with some touchy, feely, ego-satisfyingly smug rationale, like Blake Coe.
Lol... I really meant that he would recognize all the lines posted here from the episodes. I don't remember them all. Now, if he could quote the shows line by line, that would be... scary. :-0
Gee, I'm not a "believer" as far as Christianity goes. And I don't feel empty at all. My big holiday happens in the fall, and most of it is spent in a synangogue.
Why do so many Christians feel the need to project emptiness on non Christians? It might be hard for you to understand, but some of us do not feel empty without your religion at all.
You can call Sweetest day a religious holiday, but that won't make it true.
True Christians celebrate Christmas as the birth of the savior.
Others who want to make it Mickey Mouse day can pretend it is, but it ain't.
The poor slobs who try to pervert something they have no control over, delude only themselves. No matter how many time the liberals try to hijack things, they can never succeed in the hearts of the believers. And that is the ONLY place that matters.
So have a ball and do what you will, it has nothing whatsoever to do with me and I couldn't possibly care less.
It's sad to be so empty that you have to tag along to find meaning in life.
Motleygirl can.
I can handle decorations outside (though the modern age of prefabbed blowup crap is pretty obnoxious), don't generally do it but if the wife wants to that's OK, inside is forbidden though. I don't want to bluff them, I want to make them unhappy.
You bet I can ;)
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