The secular celebration’s motto is “Festivus for the rest of us” and it’s observed with varying degrees of seriousness around the country.

Festivus was invented by writer Dan O’Keefe in 1966 as a family tradition that gained fame after his son, Daniel, became a screenwriter for the long-running “Seinfeld” comedy series.


A Festivus pole was famously erected in the Illinois statehouse in 2008 by two students who wished to air grievances about then-Governor Rod Blagojevich.