Christmas is celebrated on December 25th as both a sacred and important religious holiday, a cultural celebration, and a commercial phenomenon. The holiday is based on the biblical events of the birth of Jesus which is depicted in the books of Matthew and Luke. The secular side of the holiday is based on the legend of Santa Clause, who is based off of a monk named St. Nicholas. He had given away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside of modern-day Turkey to help the sick and poor.

According to research done by the Pew Research Center in 2017, 55% of adults in the U.S. celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, including 46% who see it as more of a religious holiday than cultural holiday, and 9% who celebrate it as both a cultural and religious holiday. This declined from 2013, when 59% of Americans celebrated Christmas as a religious holiday, including 51% who saw it as more religious than cultural, and 7% who saw it as both cultural and religious. 

In a survey conducted among twelve Brown School students, all of the respondents to the survey said they celebrate Christmas, but only four of them agreed that Christmas was a religious holiday. Even though only 4 agreed that Christmas was a religious holiday, 6 students said they celebrated the religious aspect of Christmas. Some of the religious activities described by the students were attending church and reading the Christmas story with family.

The most seismic change found in the survey done by Pew, is the declining number of Americans who believe the biblical Christmas story actually happened. In 2017, only 57% of Americans believed in all four elements of Christmas which dropped from 65% in 2014. There has been a decreasing number of Christians who also believe in the Christmas narrative in the Bible. Christians who believe in all four of the elements of the Christmas story have dipped from 81% in 2014 to 76% in 2017. There is also a very important generational component found in the survey. Millennials expressed lower levels of belief in the Christmas narrative in 2017 than they did in 2014.

In some ways, the celebration of Christmas for Americans seems to be headed in a more secular direction. Although two-thirds of Americans say that religious symbols should be permitted on government and public property, the amount of Americans who believed that religious symbols should not be on public property grew from 20% to 26% between the two studies done in 2013 and 2017. In the survey, out of the twelve Brown School students, only one of them had a problem with Christian Christmas decorations on public and government property. People believe that if you are going to have decorations for the holiday season, they should be inclusive of all the different holidays during this time. 

Seven of the students surveyed, believed that Christmas would become more of a cultural and secular holiday and go away from being focused on the religious aspect. In the study done by Pew Research Center, 56% of people say that religious parts of Christmas are now being emphasized less, but 25% of those people are not bothered by it. Although the religious aspect of Christmas seems to be declining, 90% of Americans still celebrate the holiday as a cultural celebration. Most of the students that were surveyed said they believed Christmas was more of a cultural holiday and they even talked about some of the cultural traditions they participate in such as visiting Santa and opening presents. Regardless of how you celebrate Christmas, it can be a very fun holiday and season to spend time with the people you love. 

December is the holiday season for many individuals who celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, or Ōmisko. But to kick off the holiday season, the Highlands hosted the 37th Annual Bardstown Road Aglow from noon until 10pm on Saturday, December 3rd. Many shops were open throughout Bardstown Road, Baxter & Barret Avenues, and Douglass Loop. The Barret Avenue Adventure now extends the Aglow festivities from Breckinridge Street to Winter Avenue.

The event is not only to bring locals out to the Highlands, but also to support the small businesses, which give back by providing special discounts on food, drinks, and merchandise at participating restaurants. The event is sponsored and organized by the “Highlands Commerce Guide”. Their mission is to “Assist in business and community problem solving, aid in the continued effort to keep The Highlands a beautiful place to work, shop and live, work with government and local law enforcement to ensure safety for businesses and the community, etc.” This organization has hosted and promoted Bardstown Road Aglow every year, (as well as other events) to make the Highlands the best place it can be for the people. 

Talking to individuals during the event, they answered why they enjoy Bardstown Road Aglow. Darius Simpson, a door manager, (controlling the number of people entering the store) of the Edenside Gallery, answered, “I think it is one of the last original pieces of Louisville culture, the Highlands itself is Louisville culture.” He expressed that most events in the city nowadays are more centered around corporations, and so much of society has been corporate done. But “When people say, keep Louisville weird, this is what they mean.” Simpson made it clear that his appreciation to be out and about and see Louisville culture is why Bardstown Road Aglow is important to him. Not to mention he also said he enjoyed seeing the Trolly run back and forth through the streets, and watching individuals enjoy some old holiday spirit.

Irina Macaranas, a junior at Brown, was out walking about, and explained that “It was positively magical, we went all the way up to Wendy’s, it had a beautiful tree, and the music was the most magical part.” She expressed that Bardstown Road Aglow had not disappointed this year. St. James Catholic School on Edenside Avenue had opened its doors for the holiday season. Outside were stands of cookies and apple cider and they decorated every set-up with lights and garland. The church area was filled with a choir singing Christmas carols, and all the pews were filled with people joining from the neighborhoods to sit and listen. 

Filigrees Gold and Silver store-owner explained his love for Bardstown Road Aglow comes from the community, people coming together to enjoy the holidays. “I think it's the greatest, one time a year I get to see people I haven’t seen in a year. I get an opportunity to see all of my friends/customers in one night.” 

Ultimately, a lot of people turned out to support all the local businesses, and the Highlands always invites newcomers to come and celebrate the holidays as a community. 

“We were attempting to compete in the PlayVS league for Super Smash Bros. last year,” says Andrew Boling, coach of the Brown School eSports Team. “That would have our team members competing in weekly best of 3 matches against other schools … We would probably have between three to five teams [each with three students] since our team members overwhelmingly want to play Super Smash Bros.”

High demand for competitive Smash is not just kept to local scenes. Ranking #68 in average viewership on Twitch (according to TwitchMetrics.net, as of December 12, 2022), Super Smash Brothers Ultimate (the most recent title in Nintendo’s platform-fighting game franchise, Super Smash Brothers) is frequently considered to be the most popular fighting game in all of esports. However, as explained by Boling, the people working to keep the scene alive are facing a lot of pressure — from all kinds of authorities.

“The biggest roadblock for competing in Super Smash Bros. last year was the lack of approval [from JCPS] for the PlayVS software,” explains Boling. “The second biggest was the JCPS firewall. JCPS IT blocks our internet from working with the Nintendo Switch in order to prevent students from using them during the school day. Due to this, we could not access the internet from school on our Nintendo Switches and compete in the weekly matches. After we received communication that the JCPS firewall would not be changed in order to allow Nintendo Switches to connect to the internet, we were unfortunately forced to drop the game.”

With the eSports Team barred from competing in Smash tournaments officially, the group has resorted to hosting local tournaments among its members. However, due to recent events in the larger competitive Super Smash Brothers scene, it appears the growth of Brown’s Smash environment will be stunted, if not made a lot more complicated.

It all started when Nintendo decided to collaborate with esports brand Panda by providing an official license to the company, allowing them to host and broadcast the 2022 Panda Cup — a championship circuit featuring tournaments for both Super Smash Brothers Ultimate and Super Smash Brothers Melee. At the same time that the 2022 Panda Cup was being hosted, so was another major circuit: Smash World Tour 2022. Unlike the Panda Cup, Smash World Tour did not have an official license. 

It should be made clear that Nintendo was not a sponsor, co-sponsor, or administrator of the 2022 Panda Cup; they simply provided hosting and broadcasting rights. However, major Smash events have been happening publicly without such permissions for decades. This raises questions about the utility of the license, and what happens to tournament leagues which don’t have license agreements — tournament leagues which have been operating independently from Nintendo for years.

Multiple independent rumors began to spread saying the CEO of Panda had gotten word from Nintendo that Smash World Tour was about to be issued a cease and desist order and harass administrators of Smash tournament leagues not to participate in Smash World Tour. After a long, complicated story of rumors and speculation — followed by a private conversation between Smash World Tour administrators and Nintendo representatives — Smash World Tour ultimately decided in late November of this year to cancel the circuit’s December championship event and all plans to return in 2023. Nintendo claims to have played no part in the cancellation, but Smash World Tour states otherwise.

This has Smash fans worried, speculating that hosting a tournament in any professional capacity without a license may result in a lawsuit from Nintendo themselves. Assuming this is true — if the Brown School eSports Team wishes to expand their Smash scene, they’ll have to sacrifice some freedom to avoid becoming a legal liability for Brown and JCPS.