As many of you out there know by now from my most recent blogs about the holidays that I detest the commercialization of Christmas and the other holidays that happen around this time of year. The true spirit of the holidays come from why we celebrate them to begin with and not by making a profit off of it.
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To this end, myself and my family have become one of the few that celebrate a nearly 25 year old holiday that combats the commercialization of Christmas….Festivus.
Now, Festivus is a holiday that didn’t have any origins in any culture, but rather from an episode of the landmark series, “Seinfeld.”
In the Season 9 episode “The Strike,” the father of George Constanza (Jason Alexander), Frank Constanza (Jerry Stiller) invented a holiday that combats the commercialization of Christmas that involves such traditions as the Airing of Grievances where people air what upset them over the past year and the Feats of Strength, where the youngest of the family wrestles the eldest of the family.
Of course, there is also the Festivus pole, meant to replace the Christmas Tree. In my family, we would take the pole and pass it around to those who would air their grievances, then they would sign the pole before passing it on to the next person.
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Now, this may sound silly to some of you as you probably embrace the commercialism of the holiday and if you do, then who am I to stop you? But as a neurodiverse individual who has worked in retail for nearly 15 years, I have seen the commercialization of the holiday turn people into monsters like Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde.
To this end, I have embraced Festivus as a way of not only combating the commercialization, but also to air what has bothered me over the past year, especially now as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on around me.
In a way, Festivus is and has become a therapeutic holiday for a lot of people because there are no strings to hold them back and allows people to be themselves, airing what has bothered them over the past year which can be ranged from job issues to personal issues.
For me, my main grievance that I am going to air for 2021 has been trying to find a job that not only better utilizes my talents, but also gives me the flexibility to serve you…the autism/neurodiversity and disability communities.
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If you are like me and celebrate Festivus, then congratulations, you are already taking the next step towards making the holidays better for yourself. We all cannot stand the commercial holiday atmosphere so what better way to cope than by celebrating a made-up holiday from a classic modern-day sitcom?
Festivus has helped me and my family, so why not yours?
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Catch you all later!!
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