FESTIVUS
Festivus is held on December 23 each year. In a 1997 episode of the popular television comedy, Seinfeld, Festivus was brought to the masses when Frank Costanza (played by Jerry Stiller) explains he invented Festivus in response to the commercialism of Christmas. Its slogan is “A Festivus for the rest of us.”OBSERVE
Festivus traditions derived from the television episode and the original creator have been combined over the years.
- The Festivus pole is an unadorned aluminum pole displayed in the home. In the O’Keefe household, there was no Festivus pole, but instead a clock was placed in a bag and nailed to the wall.
- Festivus dinner is served during the evening.
- The Airing of Grievances occurs during Festivus dinner. Each person takes turns describing how the others have disappointed him or her in the past year.
- Feats of Strength follows dinner and involves wrestling the head of the household. The holiday is not complete unless the head of the household is pinned. Failure to pin the head of house hold could result in perpetual Festivus.
- A Festivus Miracle is a frequent if unimpressive miracle. Carrying in all the groceries into the house for Festivus Dinner without tripping or dropping one of the bags could be considered a Festivus Miracle.
Festivus Song by Brett Houston
Use #Festivus to post on social media.
HISTORY
Festivus was created by Reader’s Digest editor and author Daniel O’Keefe in response to family tension. One of its central practices is the “airing of grievances”. It was first celebrated in February of 1966, but later was celebrated as it is now, on December 23 in honor of O’Keefe’s first date with his future wife. The Seinfeld episode was written by O’Keefe’s son.
National Pfeffernusse Day – December 23
NATIONAL PFEFFERNUSSE DAY
December 23rd is reserved for this German spice cookie. It is National Pfeffernusse Day.Very popular around the holidays, pfeffernusse are fluffy cookies made with ground nuts and spices and covered in powdered sugar.
The exact origin in unknown however the Dutch believe that pfeffernusse (or pepernoten) are linked to the feast of Sinterklaas, which is celebrated on December 5 in the Netherlands and December 6 in Germany and Belgium. This holiday is when children receive gifts from St. Nicholas, who is partially the inspiration for the Santa Claus tradition.Over time, many bakers have created their own pfeffernusse recipes. Traditional recipes included various nuts such as almonds and walnuts. Some modern recipes exclude nuts altogether along with the black pepper, retaining only cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice and cardamom as flavoring. Molasses and honey are often times used to sweeten the cookie
OBSERVE
Try one of the following “tried and true” pfeffernusse recipes:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pfeffernusse/http://www.food.com/recipe/pfeffernusse-german-pepper-nut-cookies-79103
Use #NationalPfeffernusseDay to post on social media.
HISTORY
National Roots Day – December 23
NATIONAL ROOTS DAY
National Roots Day is observed annually on December 23 across the United States.National Roots Day encourages us to look into our heritage, families, family history and ancestry. Collecting information about family roots is made easier when families are gather together during the holiday season. It is quite possible a grandparent, parent, aunt or uncle has already started a family tree and will share with other family members.
It is often very interesting to learn about the lives of our ancestors; where they came from, their struggles, their accomplishments. It is a combination of everyone that is on the family tree that makes us the person that we are today.
OBSERVE
Look into your own family’s roots and use #NationalRootsDay to post on social media.
HISTORY
Our research was unable to find the creator and the origin of National Roots Day, an “unofficial” national holiday.
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