Aside from the kindling of lights, formal religious observance is restricted to changes in liturgy.
Displaying rules of etiquette and breeding, and formal and ceremonial observances are other demonstrations of unproductive (and therefore leisurely) uses of time.
Other groups see the small gatherings as a supplement to formal religious observance.
Tonight, however, had its special demands, and seemed to demand more formal observance.
There were no formal observances, but Columbine students were given the day off, and teachers gathered at the school for a remembrance.
But in bookstores, there was a less formal observance, marked by the dry, even grim humor at which Berliners excel.
The formal observances began at Monday Vespers, with the assembly of all the candidates and their sponsoring knights at Saint Hilary's Basilica.
With this the abbey resumed a formal observance of the Rule of St. Augustine.
Unfortunately, however, this often stops at formal observance of regulations and quick profits for those that carry out training programmes.
The ceremonies Friday night precede the formal observance, in Sweden Saturday, of the death of Alfred Nobel.