Festivus
The quizbowl holiday of Festivus is a regular occurrence in the month of December (traditionally December 23rd) in which players gather for an informal reading of vanity packets of varying quality and duration and is inspired by the fictional holiday of Festivus from Seinfeld.
The Internet Charity Tournament run by Will Alston and Em Gunter was inspired in format and conceit by Festivus. The 2012 Feats of Weakness and 2013 Feats of Weakness 2 by Auroni Gupta were similarly inspired.
Airing of Grievances
In Seinfeld, Festivus has two halves: Feats of Strength and the Airing of Grievances. Every "official" quizbowl Festivus (i.e those advertised on the forums) has eschewed the latter to focus on the "Feats of Strength" aspect of the holiday via the playing of packets. This was not always the case: the IRC Festivus had an Airing of Grievances every year from 2002 to 2013. Though typically a good-natured affair intended to be funny, the 2012 Airing of Grievances saw an unidentified individual complain about specific people they had run into on the bus and Andy Watkins level threats of physical harm against people he perceived as his enemies. Though there was still an Airing of Grievances in 2013, the first formal announcement of Festivus on the forums in 2014 coincided with the end of the practice.
Discord era
Since 2017, Festivus has been held on Discord; this has included both the main quizbowl Discord and separate purpose-created servers.
| Year | Forum post | Organizer | Packets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Festivus (Dec 23rd, 2017) | Eric Mukherjee | never posted in full |
| 2018 | Festivus (23 Dec) | Matt Mitchell | packets |
| 2019 | Festivus (23 Dec) | Thomas De Bock/Matt Mitchell | packets |
| 2020 | 2020 Festivus [20 December 2020] | Em Gunter | in progress |
IRC era
Before the advent of Discord, the #quizbowl IRC served as the primary location for various online quizbowl activities and Festivus was no exception. An IRC Festivus event has been held every year since 2002, but it was more focused on a light-hearted interpretation of the Airing of Grievances.
| Year | Forum post | Organizer | Packets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | IRC Festivus 2014: Quentin Tarantino Edition | Rob Carson | packets |
| 2015 | IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge | Rob Carson | packets |
| 2016 | IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet | Rob Carson | packets |