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: the Airing of Grievances and the Feats of Strength. Every "official" quizbowl Festivus (i.e those advertised on the forums) has eschewed the former 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 allegedly intended as a good-natured, funny affair, many participants used the event for toxic displays of rage, including threats of physical harm against other specific people. The first formal announcement of Festivus on the forums in 2014 coincided with the end of the practice.
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.
| 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 |
Discord era
Since 2017, Festivus has been held on Discord; this has included both the main quizbowl Discord and separate purpose-created servers. 2020 saw the event take cues from the structure of the Internet Charity Tournament to incorporate aspects like "an actual schedule" and "sign-ups".
| 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 | packets |
| 2021 | 2021 Festivus [23 December 2021] | Em Gunter | packets |
| 2022 | 2022 Festivus [23 December 2022] | Em Gunter | [1] |
| 2023 | [2] | Young Fenimore Lee |