ilii and Fabii
After all that craziness, the Quint
ing which they were
settled down for a large feast, dur
r share of wine. Once
supplied with more than their fai
nk they gathered around
the priests were sufficiently dru
imals and began to cut
the carcasses of the sacrificed an
s used these pieces to
their hides into strips. The priest
oths. Then they each
make thongs (long whips) and loincl
around themselves,
stripped down, wrapped a loincloth
of the cave.
grabbed a thong, and marched out
The streets of R
ome weren’t the
only thing those
Back then, when
priests hit that
men hit on women
night.
,
th
ey
did so literally. T
Fabii whipped wo
he Quintilii and
men who were an
xi
o
us
ly
lining the streets.
worry! This was
But don’t
a good thing-- wo
men would actua
front of the drun
lly throw themse
k priests in hope
lves in
th
a
t
th
ey would be hit.
that being whipp
It was believed
ed on Lupercalia
w
o
ul
d
b
ring heightened fe
would lessen the
rtility and
pain of childbirth
.
O
n
ce
the priests had p
would gather in th
ast, the women
e Comitium and in
sc
ri
b
e
their names onto
which would be to
small tablets
ssed into large b
owls. Men would
bowls and rando
then approach th
mly draw one na
e
m
e.
W
h
o
ev
er they picked w
essentially be th
ould
eir date for the
remainder of the
festivities.
Now, obviously, much has happened over time which caused Luper
calia to
evolve into our modern idea of Valentine’s Day, but it is important
to remember
that this holiday was incredibly important to the Romans, so much
so that it
outlived the Roman Empire. Next Valentine’s Day, embrace your inner
Roman,
and do something to celebrate the spirit behind Lupercalia. Show
someone
forgiveness for a hurtful decision, sit back and marvel at how much
agriculture
has advanced, and of course, have fun (maybe don’t drunkenly run
through the
streets with nothing more than a loincloth and a whip though).
IO LUPERCALIA, OJCL!
22
Cheers,
ISTORIAN
H
L
JC
N
,
n
e
sorg
Ana ohner