OT: What is this Happy Festivus nonsense?

[J Miller]

I'm on slow dial up, so I didn't bother to look at the pics in the other thread. But what is this nonsense I see about Happy Festivus?
It's Christmas, nothing else as far as I'm concerned.

Joe

[awp101]

It's a reference from the show Seinfeld.

[Old Ironsights]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus

Festivus is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as "another way" to celebrate the holiday season without participating in its pressures and commercialism[1]. It was created by writer Dan O'Keefe and introduced into popular culture by his son Daniel, a screenwriter for the TV show Seinfeld,[2][1] as part of a comical storyline on the show. The holiday's celebration, as shown on Seinfeld, includes an unadorned aluminum "Festivus pole," practices such as the "Airing of Grievances" and "Feats of Strength," and the labelling of easily explainable events as "Festivus miracles".
Celebrants of the holiday sometimes refer to it as "Festivus for the rest of us," a saying taken from the O'Keefe family traditions and popularized in the Seinfeld episode to describe Festivus' non-commerical aspect.
The name "Festivus" has also begun to be used as a general term for any type of December party not affiliated with the season's other events.[3][4]

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"Airing of the grievances" = the family squabbles that occur when too many famly members are in a single home + booze.

"Feats of Strength" = a ritualized (or not) wrestling match/fight usually begun during an airing of grievances...

Festivus Pole = Old aluminium Christmas tree with all the needles/branches lost over the years but one is too cheap/annoyed with commercialism to replace...

[J Miller]

Okeee Dokeee

Thanks for the information. I never watched a complete episode of the Seinfeld show. So anything that happened on it is lost on me.

Joe

[awp101]

In this case it's good, clean fun poking fun at the commercialism of the Christmas season.

[Old Savage]

Joe, I celebrate with everyone, you may join me in celebrating the Colt Patent Dates on the frame of the Colt Single Actions. In which we celebrate the "Airing of GUn Powder" and "Feats of Shooting".

[sore shoulder]

Whats even worse is, there is a made up African holiday called Kwanza that is even dumber than Festivus, except it's being touted as a real holiday and being taught to children in schools. And it was never celebrated in Africa. It's like a South Park episode come to life. the guy who invented it was a militant black nationalist and black panther and Marxist who incited an armed shootout at UCLA and was imprisoned. Kwanza supposedly means first fruit of harvest, yea that would happen in December.

[C. Cash]

I think we should all come together on this by focusing on the long, time honored tradition of making fun of atheists :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADNesm6F ... r_embedded

[pwl44m]

I think we should all come together on this by honoring the time honored tradition of making fun of atheists :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADNesm6F ... r_embedded

They made My day when They gave Atheists Their own Holiday-----------"April 1st"

[samb]

Joe, Thanks for asking as I had no clue what Happy Festivus meant either.

[AJMD429]

I never watched a complete episode of the Seinfeld show. So anything that happened on it is lost on me.

Since we've not had television (other than as a DVD player) in our house since about 1988, I'm with you on that, Joe. I don't miss it much, and get a snippet or two at the in-laws every couple years when we visit (the History Channel mostly), and as our kids grew up, instead of watching a Disney movie on building a tree-house, they went outside and actually built one themselves. Sometimes they even read BOOKS...!

Joe, I celebrate with everyone, you may join me in celebrating the Colt Patent Dates on the frame of the Colt Single Actions. In which we celebrate the "Airing of Gun Powder" and "Feats of Shooting".

Sounds like good things to celebrate to me...

[olyinaz]

Whats even worse is, there is a made up African holiday called Kwanza that is even dumber than Festivus, except it's being touted as a real holiday and being taught to children in schools. And it was never celebrated in Africa. It's like a South Park episode come to life. the guy who invented it was a militant black nationalist and black panther and Marxist who incited an armed shootout at UCLA and was imprisoned. Kwanza supposedly means first fruit of harvest, yea that would happen in December.

Man, I'm with ya on that one. From Wikipedia: "Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 as the first specifically African American holiday. Karenga said his goal was to 'give Blacks an alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society.'"

Yeah right, because...wait for it...Christianity originated in EUROPE and Jesus was a white guy. Right?? Un freakin' believable. Someone should have introduced that fool to an Egyptian or Ethiopian Christian - arguably the two oldest Christian denominations! But hey, I'm sure this pagan Kwanza garbage makes Satan quite pleased. At least Festivus was a joke pure and simple - a comedy bit - but how many idiots celebrate this Kwanzaa garbage today and how many fool government organizations cow tow to it?

Sorry, you got me going there.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL!!!

Oly

[J Miller]

Joe, I celebrate with everyone, you may join me in celebrating the Colt Patent Dates on the frame of the Colt Single Actions. In which we celebrate the "Airing of GUn Powder" and "Feats of Shooting".

Fred,
That sounds really cool. Do we get our own tree or pedestal too?

...............................................

This is one time I'm glad I started a thread. I've heard of this Festivus for several years now and wondered. I've also heard of Kawanza and wondered. Now I know.

Thanks guys for the info.

Joe

[markinalpine]

I think we should all come together on this by focusing on the long, time honored tradition of making fun of atheists :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADNesm6F ... r_embedded

Thanks for that link.
Here are a couple of more that "Celebrate" the crass commercialization of Xmas (spelled that way on purpose! )

Stan Freberg's Green Christmas

Tom Leher's Christmas Carol

Merry Christmas,
Mark

[adirondakjack]

Funny, but my 16 yr old and I just had a conversation along these lines. He is an active member of his church, sings in the choir, etc, and these days pushes his mother to attend when she might not.

I have not darkened the door or a house of worship for purposes other than a funeral or wedding in over 40 years, and have no plans to do so.

Yet in the end, I said to my son "The MEANING of Christmas, with or without the stuff under the tree (which IMHO DOES FIT INTO THE SPIRIT) is to celebrate the LOVE of our friends and family, much as the god of the bible loved us so much that according to scripture, he gave to us his son.

Be it secular or sectarian, commercial or "anti-commercial" (which some might read as a thinly veiled excuse not to spend money, aka selfish), Christmas is about love.

[Old Ironsights]

...Yeah right, because...wait for it...Christianity originated in EUROPE and Jesus was a white guy. Right?? ...

Well, no, Christianity did not originate in Europe, but CHRISTMAS most certainly did.

Almost all of the trappings of the celebration of Christmas - including the Mass itself - are 100% European, and most are actually European-Pagan in origin.

That's why the Puritans refused to celebrate Christmas and outlawed it wherever they had the political clout to do so...

[Griff]

Long rant WAS going to follow; BUT, in the spirit of the season, enjoy it any way you feel comfortable.

Regardless of how that may be, I'll not let that PC (Public Cowardice) stuff affect my enjoyment and worship.

[awp101]

Tom Leher's Christmas Carol

One of my favorites. I've had a Tom Lehrer CD with that song for almost 20 years now...

[C. Cash]

I think we should all come together on this by focusing on the long, time honored tradition of making fun of atheists :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADNesm6F ... r_embedded

Thanks for that link.
Here are a couple of more that "Celebrate" the crass commercialization of Xmas (spelled that way on purpose! )

Stan Freberg's Green Christmas

Tom Leher's Christmas Carol

Merry Christmas,
Mark

Glad you liked that Mark and thanks for the other links.

Jack, Merry Christmas to you! May we all continue to search and seek the truth.

[cas]

Kwanza supposedly means first fruit of harvest, yea that would happen in December.

The summer solstice is December 21st in Africa.

[olyinaz]

The summer solstice is December 21st in Africa.

Not in most of it...




Oly

[kirkwood]

The summer solstice is December 21st in Africa.

Not in most of it...




Oly

You better look up the meaning of solstice. It isn't what you think it is.

[C. Cash]

MERRY CHRISTMAS FELLAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bullard4075]

I think we should all come together on this by focusing on the long, time honored tradition of making fun of atheists :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADNesm6F ... r_embedded

I watched this and was confused.
I'll admit to being simple-minded.
Was this an attack on Christians or Atheists?

I'll also admit to never having found Steve Martin funny.

[C. Cash]

I think we should all come together on this by focusing on the long, time honored tradition of making fun of atheists :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADNesm6F ... r_embedded

I watched this and was confused.
I'll admit to being simple-minded.
Was this an attack on Christians or Atheists?

I'll also admit to never having found Steve Martin funny.

Naw, it's not really an attack on either and I was just sort of joking with my initial sentence as well. Martin is just making fun of our human nature, and it is tactfully done. If I were an atheist I think I'd be laughing at it as well. If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?
PS, I never liked Martin on SNL, but love it when he does this type of stuff.