When is Festivus? Here’s When the ‘Seinfeld’ Holiday Lands in December

You know Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, and maybe Yule and Hogmanay too. But do you remember one of the younger holidays born from a sitcom?

The secular holiday Festivus is held on December 23, celebrated by fans of the show “Seinfeld” since the 1997 episode “The Strike”.

First airing on December 18, 1997, “The Strike” depicts an interaction between Jerry Seinfeld’s neighbor Kramer and George Costanza’s father, Frank, talking about a holiday Frank invented after trying to buy “a doll” for his young son.

An argument between Frank Costanza and another man who also reaches for the doll ends with the doll’s death and an epiphany.

“A new holiday was born,” Frank Costanza tells Kramer. “A party for the rest of us!”

The toll includes a bare aluminum bar — “I think tinsel is distracting,” Frank Costanza said — along with the airing of complaints and the feats of strength.

When the celebration is held at the end of the episode, it’s no spoiler or surprise (from past experience) that George can’t surpass his father in feats of strength.

Of course, the episode’s air date conflicts with the typical day Festivus lands.

Returning to work at a bagel shop after a year-long strike is settled, Kramer asks his manager to take December 23rd off for Festivus. His manager refuses the request, prompting Kramer to go back on strike and sabotage the store before eventually returning to work and being fired.

The popularity of the fictional holiday has led to celebrations all over the world. In 2005, the Wagner Companies of Milwaukee molded aluminum bars and delivered one to then-Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, which he displayed in the Executive Residence, according to Wisconsin Historical Society.

Wisconsin resident and “Animal House” actor Mark Metcalf, who played The Maestro on “Seinfeld,” displayed his own Wagner-made Festivus bars at his restaurant, the historical society noted.

On December 6, 2010, former US Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., a Festivus-themed fundraiser in Washington, DC, Political reported.

From Florida to Australiathe made-up holiday kept popping up.

In 2022, even the official “Seinfeld” social media accounts stepped in to promote Festivus’ popularity by sharing a change.org link requesting that Festivus become a national holiday.

In Salem, the 13th annual Festivus 5K Run for Autism was held Dec. 15, according to race organizers d. Facebook. Cindy and Rick Johnson founded the race after their son participated in the Northshore Education Consortium as a seventh grader.

“Our son was diagnosed on the spectrum when he was about five, and like most parents who have a child going through a health issue, we looked for ways to help others by giving back to the community,” Cindy Johnson told MassLive in 2023. “So what we did was we started this road race, we’re both runners and it’s our passion.”

The race raises money for children with autism at the Northshore Education Consortium, where Cindy Johnson is founder and president.

Big “Seinfeld” fans themselves, the Johnsons thought an “anti-holiday run” in the spirit of Frank Costanza’s anti-consumerism that fueled Festivus would add to the fun.

“Sometimes the holidays aren’t what you want them to be, and this is a Festivus for the rest of us, as they say,” she previously said.