Dedication (Lat. dedicatio, from dedicare, to proclaim, to announce), is to immerse oneself with sincerity into a certain subject or properly the setting apart of anything by solemn proclamation. It is thus in Latin the term particularly applied to the consecration of altars, temples and other sacred buildings, and also to the inscription prefixed to a book, etc., and addressed to some particular person.This latter practice, which formerly had the purpose of gaining the patronage and support of the person so addressed, is now only a mark of affection or regard. In law, the word is used of the setting apart by a private owner of a road to public use.
Feast of Dedication
The Feast of Dedication was a Jewish festival observed for eight days from the 25th of Kislev (i.e. about December 12) in commemoration of the reconsecration (165 BC) of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, and especially of the altar of burnt offering, after they had been desecrated in the persecution under Antiochus Epi
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dedication