Etymology and Origin
The word Festivus in this sense was made up because it sounded funny to Dan O'Keefe. The English word "festive" derives from Latin "festivus", which in turn derives from festus "joyous; holiday, feast day".
In the original O'Keefe tradition, the holiday would take place in response to family tension, "any time from December to May". The phrase "A Festivus for the rest of us" also derived from an O'Keefe family event, the death of the elder O'Keefe's mother.
The elder O'Keefe wrote a book, Stolen Lightning: The Social Theory of Magic (1982), that deals with idiosyncratic ritual and its social significance, a theme relevant to Festivus tradition.
Read more about this topic: Festivus
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