Seinfeld fans celebrate Festivus around the world Frank Costanza explains the origins of Festivus to Kramer in Seinfeld. WHILE most people are frantically trying to buy presents and decorate Christmas trees, thousands of Seinfeld fans are today setting up their aluminium poles to celebrate Festivus. The secular holiday, which is the brainchild of Frank Costanza (played by Jerry Stiller), first featured on the 'show about nothing' in 1997 and has been observed by diehard fans ever since. In the episode The Strike, George Costanza's oddball father reveals that he created the event as an alternative to the overcommercialised Christmas. "Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son," Frank tells Kramer in a classic Seinfeld scene. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realised there had to be another way ... Out of that, a new holiday was born ... A Festivus for the rest of us! Here are the four main elements to Festivus: Decorations: Forget dealing with sharp pine needles from a Christmas tree, the only decoration you'll need to celebrate Festivus is an aluminium pole, which must be unadorned because Frank Costanza finds tinsel "distracting." The airing of grievances: Festivus begins when the head of the table stands up and reveals what bothers him most about the other guests in the room. In fact, it's fairly similar to what happens at the end of Christmas Day when 'that' uncle has a few too many drinks. The Festivus dinner: Hopefully people haven't taken the airing of grievances too personally, and they're still willing to tuck into the traditional Festivus meal of spaghetti and meat loaf. The feats of strength: At the conclusion of dinner, the head of the table challenges one guest to take part in the feats of strength. The celebration can't officially end until the guest has wrestled and pinned the head of the table to the ground. If that sounds a little too violent for you, Festivus Web (yes, there's actually a Festivus website) has a list of alternative methods for the feats of strength. So if you're a bit bored by Christmas and you don't mind a slightly more confrontational celebration, why not give Festivus a crack?