For those celebrating on this fifth night of lights, we at the Press wish you a very Happy Hanukkah.

The eight-night Festival of Lights — Dec. 22 to Dec. 30 this year — is a beautiful ceremony. Each night after sunset, Jewish families light a candle of the hanukiah (like a menorah) as they recite this Hebrew blessing:

“Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, king of the universe, who sanctified us by his commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah. Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, king of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old at this season.”

If you wondered, the vowel is traditionally left out of the name as a gesture of respect. In Jewish culture a name is no mere word; it conveys the very essence of its holder.

Speaking of name, “Chanukah” or “Hanukkah” derives from a Hebrew verb meaning “dedicate.” The candle-lighting ceremony is considered an act of dedication.

Yet Hanukkah’s dedication is about more than this; its history is rooted in that quintessentially American theme of freedom.

The lights on the hanukiah are more than physical illumination. They represent the light of faith and a 2,000-year-old miracle: A temple lamp fed by no more than a day’s oil as Maccabean Jews struggled against Ancient Greeks to regain control of Jerusalem. According to the Hanukkah story, that under-fueled lamp burned for eight more nights.

Deeper within Hanukkah’s flame lies the victorious rededication of that desecrated temple in Jerusalem, sparing the faithful from being forced to worship their conquerors’ gods.

Hanukkah is about standing up for one’s convictions.

Don’t confuse the hanukiah candelabra with the menorah. The latter is more a symbolic object, whose candles are all level and which graced temples as old as Judaism itself. The Hanukkah ceremony uses the hanukiah.

Each of the hanukiah’s evenly spaced, leveled candles (except the Shamash — the ninth central candle which lights the others and is often higher) is relit nightly, reminiscent of the miracle lamp. The candles are left burning until they go out on their own, like the original.

“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.” — Gautama Buddha

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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network who finds many spiritual traditions inspiring. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.