Commemorative rituals consolidate solidarity by reaffirming one's secular faith and by enhancing emotional energy even without value consensus. Yet, state rituals, especially the ones organized by an authoritarian state, are usually shrugged off and mocked by its citizens. What made the state-sponsored national commemoration so effective? The author answers this question by looking at "small things"--the interaction rituals in the micro-level encounters between outsiders and the affected people. In this essay, drawing on his experience of being a spectator and later a participant, the author argues that microrituals of ordinary people--especially volunteers--also make a difference. Their actions are small yet by no means trivial. They not only infused sacredness into the situational interaction order in newly formed local "publics", but also gave flesh and blood to the state-sponsored rituals. (Contains 1 footnote.)