n.
 (pl. ceremonies)
  - a formal religious or public occasion, typically celebrating a particular event or achievement. 
▸an act or series of acts performed according to a traditional or prescribed form.
 - the ritual procedures observed at grand formal occasions:
 the new Queen was proclaimed with due ceremony.
 
 
  Phrase
  
    - stand on ceremony
 insist on the observance of formalities.  - without ceremony
 without preamble or politeness. 
   
  Etymology
  ME: from OFr. ceremonie or L. caerimonia ‘religious worship’, (pl.) ‘ritual observances’.