Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Feats of Strength

"Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwaanza, oh heck, Happy Festivus, haha.

While it first came to the attention of most of America by way of a television show, the celebration of a holiday called 'Festivus' is part of human history throughout the ages, most notably in ancient Rome, nineteenth-century California, and upstate New York in the 1960s.

Three basic rituals have become associated with Festivus :

First, the erecting of a Festivus pole, an unadorned length of lusterless metal or something that looks like metal, which symbolizes nothing;

Second, an Airing of Grievances that asks celebrants to take turns telling gathered friends, enemies, relatives, acquaintances and strangers in which way each has been a disppointment;

And finally, the tension-dispelling Feats of Strength, which, traditionally involve wrestling the head of the household to the floor, but has evolved to include variations such as laser-printer bench pressing, thumb-wrestling and endurance hula-hooping."