Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, will begin at sundown Thursday, and will end with nightfall on Dec. 18. The eight-day holiday is marked by the lighting of candelabras, called hanukkiahs.

There are certain prayers that are recited while lighting the candles. Here are some of them:

1. Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.

2. Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old, at this season.

3. Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has kept us alive, and has preserved us, and enabled us to reach this time.

Here are some famous quotes to celebrate Hanukkah, courtesy FamousQuotes 123:

1. "Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame. Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart." — Hannah Senesh

2. "On Hanukkah, the first dark night, light yourself a candle bright. I'll you, if you will me invite, to dance within that gentle light."— Nicholas Gordon

3. "Chanuka is about the spark of the divine in all of us made in God's image." — Suzanne Field

4. "The darkness of the whole world cannot swallow the glowing of a candle." — Robert Altinger

5. "To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, every cubic inch of space is a miracle." — Walt Whitman

6. "The commandment to light the Hanukkah lamp is an exceedingly precious one, and one should be particularly careful to fulfill it. In order to make known the miracle, and to offer additional praise ... to God for the Wonders which He has wrought for us." — Maimonides

7. "The miracle, of course, was not that the oil for the sacred light — in a little cruse — lasted as long as they say; but that the courage of the Maccabees lasted to this day: let that nourish my flickering spirit." — Charles Reznikoff

8. "A candle is a small thing. But one candle can light another. And see how its own light increases, as a candle gives its flame to the other. You are such a light." — Moshe Davis

9. "As long as Hanukkah is studied and remembered, Jews will not surrender to the night. The proper response, as Hanukkah teaches, is not to curse the darkness but to light a candle." — Irving Greenberg

10. "Just as Hanukkah candles are lighted one by one from a single flame, so the tale of the miracle is passed from one man to another, from one house to another, and to the whole House of Israel throughout the generations." — Judah L. Magnes

Hanukkah Germany
The first lamp of a large scale menorah in front of the Brandenburg Gate lights after it was lights by Rabbis Yehuda Teichtal and German Interior Minist Lothar de Maiziere on Dec. 16, 2014 in Berlin, Germany. Carsten Koall/Getty Images
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