Wednesday, December 21, 2005

I didn't know that

Seinfeld (or rather, Frank Costanza) did not come up with the idea of Festivus. The holiday celebration was actually invented in 1966 by a Reader's Digest editor. And now, thanks to the mention in Seinfeld, it's become a more popular holiday alternative to the traditional overmarketed consumer-mad Christmas, according to this Detroit Free Press article. Sales of Aluminum poles have actually increased from $5 in the Detroit area five years ago to $40 today. For a pole. For a made up, pop culture "holiday." Yet people flock to Festivus as a solution to the overmarketing and buy-crazy world that is Christmas. I find the irony there somewhat humorous. Anyway, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Festivus, and happy everything else.

1 comment:

Bookworm said...

Isn't capitalism grand?