Today’s DOTD - Drink Of The Day - is a Polish Martini inspired by Festivus.
Festivus made its first public appearance on the Seinfeld episode “The Strike” in December, 1997. According to the show’s lore, the holiday was created by George’s father, Frank Costanza, after an unfortunate toy-aisle scuffle over a doll when George was a kid. As he explained to Kramer inside H&H Bagels, “A new holiday was born – a Festivus for the rest of us!”
Celebrated annually on December 23, Festivus offers a holiday for those seeking to eschew the commercialism and materialism of other holiday celebrations. The usual holiday tradition of a tree is replaced by a plain aluminum pole. As Mr. Costanza said, “It requires no decoration. I find tinsel distracting.”
As the New York Times reported about Festivus in 2004, while Seinfeld provided the public introduction to the holiday, the actual inventor of Festivus is a gentleman named Dan O’Keefe. His son Daniel was a writer on Seinfeld and appropriated the family holiday for the episode. Apparently stunned to hear that the holiday, which he came up with in 1966, was popular, the elder Mr. O’Keefe wondered “Have we created a cult?” Maybe so.
According to the younger Mr. O’Keefe, their family celebrations of the holiday were “entirely more peculiar than on the show.” Apparently the pole did not exist early on, but there were airing of grievances into a tape recorder and wrestling matches between brothers. There was also a clock in a bag, though the younger O’Keefe did not know what it symbolized. We leave that to the reader’s imagination.
Beyond having a plain aluminum pole the two key rituals of Festivus are:
The Airing of Grievances: The tradition of Festivus begins with the Airing of Grievances. “I got a lot of problems with you people! Now, you’re going to hear about it.”
Feats of Strength: After the Airing of Grievances the head of the household wrestles opponents until pinned.
Like Frank & George Costanza, the Polish Martini is said to have been invented by another father-son team: legendary bartender, Dick Bradsell who invented the drink for his Polish father-in-law, Victor Sarge, who - you may have guessed - is said to have often aired his grievances publicly.
While we hope you’ve got no grievances with us, even if you do, we’ll raise a glass to the holiday for the rest of us with today’s Drink Of The Day, the Polish Martini!
Ingredients
Here’s what you’re going to need for this drink:
