Lupercalia info

I never did get around to telling you about Lupercalia, which was on Feb. 15. The exact significance of the holiday is unknown, but it had something to do with fertility. At the Lupercal (the cave at the foot of the Palatine Hill where the she-wolf, Lupa, was thought to have nursed Romulus and Remus) goats and a dog were sacrificed. The blood was smeared on the foreheads of two boys, who were required to laugh. Then the Luperci (who were priests) would run around the Palatine striking passers-by (especially women) with a whip.