What does it take to follow a fake?

There are many religious “fakes” out there: Festivus from Seinfeld, the Church of Elvis, and Kumaré, a pretend guru. 

I would never participate in a fake religious tradition, you may think, how disgraceful!

Yet many of fakes catch on, and are celebrated by the thousands and come up in everyday conversation.

Many others do not. The Church of the Almighty Dollar –  what is that? According to David Chidester, it among the many obscure, cult followings that pervade American culture.

How do some fakes like Seinfeld’s Festivus gain thousands of followers?

Perhaps it’s because they adapted from a previously established religion, Christmas.

Originally made up by a Seinfeld writer’s father, Festivus combatted the commercialism of Christmas, and proclaimed itself a holiday “For the Rest of Us.” Atheists now celebrate it across the country on December 23^rd. In 2013, a Festivus Pole was displayed in the Wisconsin State Capitol alongside other religious displays.

Festivus was made to criticize Christmas, and involves traditions mirroring Christmas ones; the aluminum pole and the Christmas tree are a prime example. And it has caught on, you may say.

The Christmas traditions were similarly copied and adapted from the pagan Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. Christmas was nonexistent until 300 AD. Christians disagreed with the pagan rituals, so they took pagans’ celebrations and made their own, using the darkest day to symbolize Jesus’s light coming into the world. And Christmas is certainly not a fake today, even though it started that way.

Adapting from what is already around you, transforming symbols from the established, certainly help make a fake religion became believable and even authentic.