11.   Some companies observed a holiday on Saturday, which partly explains the fewer number of strikers.

12.   Sometimes different financial institutions within the same country even observe different holidays.

13.   Staff are allowed to take personal days to observe religious holidays, he said.

14.   PLO chief Yasser Arafat plans to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem to mark the first time the holiday will be observed under Palestinian rule, a Palestinian official said Sunday.

15.   A state law signed Wednesday requires all municipalities to observe the holiday.

16.   Jewish holidays are diligently observed, with friends in Australia and Singapore sending ritual wine and matzoh, the unleavened bread eaten at Passover.

17.   Just as the trappings of Chinese New Year have evolved, so have the ways that Chinese-Americans observe the holiday.

18.   Observing the holiday, Jews light candles in a candelabrum with eight branches, called a menorah.

19.   Thanksgiving meant something different to millions of Americans observing the holiday.

20.   The holiday is observed in many Mexican-American communities.