FYI: TRIVIUM RESEARCH TIDBITS ON THE PAGAN ROMAN FESTIVAL, THE LUPERCALIA

The Lupercalia is a festival with its origins in ancient Rome. 

Like the pagan festival of Imbolc (observed on February 2nd), the Lupercalia celebrates the hope of Spring after a long winter. Plants and animals must regenerate to survive. Humans, too, must procreate to insure the continuance of the human species.

The Romans believed in purification and purging. The name of the month February derives from a conscious act of purification to promote the good health and fertility required for reproduction.

At that time, Roman civilization  was evolving from a hunting society (as symbolized by the wolf) to an agrarian nation, (as symbolized by the goat. ) The  She-Wolf or La Lupa had rescued the twins, Romulus and Remus (the founders of Rome) from drowning in the Tiber. King Amulius, Rome's first king and descendant of the Trojan, Aeneas abandoned the infant twins on the river Tiber’s bank in order to save his dynasty from a future of chaotic infighting between fraternal factions.  La Lupa suckled the babies in her cave, the Lupercal at the foot of the Palatine Hill, until the shepherd Faustulus adopted them and trained them as shepherds. Th e Lupercalia celebrates this transition. Romulus and Remus as  Roman Everymen first found nourishment from a the wolf as hunter and then as they evolved they learned animal husbandry, eventually adapting to become an agrarian society.  

The Ritual

Two sets of Lupercalian priests presided over the ritual. These priests hailed from two famous Roman families, the Fabii and the Quinctilli.

The priests first sacrificed a dog and a goat. The celebrants used dogs rather than chance handling a less-domesticated wolf. The goat symbolized the lifestyle of the shepherd and farmer. 

After anointing the foreheads of young men between the ages of 20 and 40 with both dog and goat blood, the priests wiped the spot clean with a wool cloth soaked in milk. These young men, called the Luperci, cut thongs from the skin of the sacrificed animals. Armed with these strips, they ran naked up the Palantine Hill, striking at the thighs of women who willingly crossed their paths. Women welcomed the contact. They associated the symbolic flailing as purifying, a necessary first step toward fertility and healthy pregnancy.

Disguised Identities

The Luperci dressed in dog and goat costumes to hide their identity. Perhaps, the Lupercalia truly is the precursor of Mardi Gras, where revelers  protect their anonymity and enjoy a day of excess.

Valentine's Day

Many historians link the Lupercalia  to our modern Valentine’s Day. The red heart suggests the dog and goat sacrificial blood--lifeblood  that symbolized the reason for the season, keeping  humanity alive and fertile.

SPOILER: In TRIVIUM: THE LOVERS, Billie Desanges takes part in a modern-day reenactment of the Lupercalia, only to regret her decision.

Check out the following article from the New York Times. Italian archeologist Irene Iacopi believes she found the Lupercal cave in January 2007 : https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/world/europe/20iht-rome.4.8408773.html

Read the non-fiction book, The Lupercalia by Alberta Mildred Franklin https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IKZU444/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1