Senator Rand Paul Celebrates Festivus With ‘The Airing of Grievances’

Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is celebrating Festivus, the fictional non-commercial holiday popularized by TV’s Seinfeld. As required by tradition, Paul is doing an online “airing of grievances” about government waste, Washington politics, and a certain White House occupant with a penchant for tweeting.

Festivus, for the uninitated, is celebrated each December 23 as a Christmas alternative. Created by Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller) as an answer to treacly holiday traditions, it features a Festivus pole without decorations, “Feats of Strength,” and a dinner, after which comes the annual “airing of grievances.”

The holiday was first featured in a 1997 Seinfeld episode titled The Strike, during which it was identified as “Festivus – a holiday for the rest of us.” The notion was quickly embraced by those non-traditionalists who shunned the commercial aspects of the formal Christmas holiday.