Posted on 02/11/2022 10:15:44 AM PST by Scarlett156
Lupercalia was an ancient pagan festival held each year in Rome on February 15. Although Valentine’s Day shares its name with a martyred Christian saint, some historians believe the holiday is actually an offshoot of Lupercalia. Unlike Valentine’s Day, however, Lupercalia was a bloody, violent and sexually charged celebration awash with animal sacrifice, random matchmaking and coupling in the hopes of warding off evil spirits and infertility.
Romulus and Remus
No one knows the exact origin of Lupercalia, but it has been traced back as far as the 6th century B.C.
According to Roman legend, the ancient King Amulius ordered Romulus and Remus—his twin nephews and founders of Rome—to be thrown into the Tiber River to drown in retribution for their mother’s broken vow of celibacy.
A servant took pity on them, however, and placed them inside a basket on the river instead. The river-god carried the basket and the brothers downriver to a wild fig tree where it became caught in the branches. The brothers were then rescued and cared for by a she-wolf in a den at the base of Palatine Hill where Rome was founded.
The twins were later adopted by a shepherd and his wife and learned their father’s trade. After killing the uncle who’d ordered their death, they found the cave den of the she-wolf who’d nurtured them and named it Lupercal.
It’s thought Lupercalia took place to honor the she-wolf and please the Roman fertility god Lupercus.
Ritual Sacrifice
Lupercalia rituals took place in a few places: Lupercal cave, on Palatine Hill and within the Roman open-air, public meeting place called the Comitium. The festival began at Lupercal cave with the sacrifice of one or more male goats—a representation of sexuality—and a dog.
The sacrifices were performed by Luperci, a group of Roman priests. Afterwards, the foreheads of two naked Luperci were smeared with the animals’ blood using the bloody, sacrificial knife. The blood was then removed with a piece of milk-soaked wool as the Luperci laughed.
Feast of Lupercal In Ancient Rome, feasting began after the ritual sacrifice. When the feast of Lupercal was over, the Luperci cut strips, also called thongs or februa, of goat hide from the newly-sacrificed goats.
They then ran naked or nearly-naked around Palantine whipping any woman within striking distance with the thongs.
During Lupercalia, the men randomly chose a woman’s name from a jar to be coupled with them for the duration of the festival. Often, the couple stayed together until the following year’s festival. Many fell in love and married.
In Plutarch’s Life of Julius Caesar, Caesar famously refuses a golden crown presented to him by Mark Antony during the feast of Lupercalia.
Saint Valentine There are several legends surrounding the life of Saint Valentine. The most common is that on one February 14 during the 3rd century A.D., a man named Valentine was executed by the Roman Emperor Claudius II after being imprisoned for assisting persecuted Christians and secretly marrying Christian couples in love.
As the story goes, during Valentine’s imprisonment he tried converting Claudius to Christianity. Claudius became enraged and ordered Valentine to reject his faith or be killed. He refused to forsake his faith, so Valentine was beheaded.
Legend also tells of another story that happened during Valentine’s imprisonment after he tutored a girl named Julia, the blind daughter of his jailer. The legend states God restored Julia’s sight after she and Valentine prayed together. On the eve of his execution, Valentine supposedly penned a note to Julia and signed it, “From your Valentine.”
Some historians believe more than one man named Valentine was executed by Claudius II. Despite the ambiguity surrounding Valentine and his life, the Catholic Church declared him a saint and listed him in Roman Martyrology as being martyred on February 14.
*yawn* And eye fortot the reset ....
*whipping any woman within striking distance*
Heh. Never give in to that temptation. I’m warning you.
You may be interested.
Lupercalia?
They got a shot for that nowadays..............
I think I had that shot, actually. *scratches behind ear with left foot*
uh.....naked guys running around with whips?
Restrain yourself.
Kinky!
Jerry will be missed................
Had to click the link to get to the bit about Plutarch’s Lives and the mention of Caesar refusing a crown on that day. That’s referenced in Shakespeare’s play, as well as the name of the day itself in the first scene where Flavius and Marullus are chasing away crowds who had come to honor Caesar and to remove decorations on the images of Caesar, on “the feast of Lupercal”.
sounds like great fun!
maybe Biden will implement a national paid holiday for us to celebrate it (and temporarily forget how screwed up he’s getting the country)
/s
“Lupercalia was a bloody, violent and sexually charged celebration awash with animal sacrifice, random matchmaking and coupling in the hopes of warding off evil spirits and infertility.”
Typical Friday at the local dive bar.
We call those people "Bloody Idiots".
it is instructive to note how the Roman Empire started sliding down its infamous path to extinction after Lupercalia was “woke-ified”
So, it’s like a weekend party in the White House then.
*nods*
“Will you be my bvtt-boy on this most holy day?”
“Um..... no.”
LOL!
*ahem*
One perk of the lupercalia was that it was an opportune time to get rid of one’s political opponents. Beware the ides of March!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.