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."
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."
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."
These are the kind of people who constituted "flash mobs" during their millisecond of popularity.
A very merry Festivus to all of you.
For the rest of us, only two more days.
As faux holidays goes Festivus beats Kwaanza hands-down.
I understand that she's a graduate of MSU's prestigious English Grammar program.
Happy Winter Solstice Day!
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.
Festivus has more legitimacy than Kwanzaa.
Hmm, I thought that's what family Christmas was all about already.
And a Happy New Yearning!
It's not fictional if enough people celebrate it. Look at Kwaanza!
It is a joke on a sitcom...pleazzzzze!
And BTW
HAPPY KWANZAA!
But Festivus is more real than Kwanzaa.
" "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.
If so, please pour yourself a double.
Wow. If that isn't worth celebrating, what is?
"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.
At 1:30 I medidated on the astonishing fact that the sun was angled at Zenith above the Tropic of Capricon.
Breathtaking!
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