Lupercalia

A Somewhat Forgotten Holiday

Hello, friend,

With today’s commercial holiday taking place, I thought we could talk about the history of a holiday that used to exist on February 15th.

Lupercalia was originally celebrated by Ancient Romans to purify the city as well as to promote health and fertility amongst the people. It was also known as dies Februatus which is where February received its Roman Calendar name of Februarius.

The celebration was overseen by priests entitled Luperci and began with the sacrificing of animals. Two Luperci were then led to the altar where their foreheads were touched with the knife that had been used to kill the animal sacrifices. The blood from the knife would then be removed by using wool that had been dipped in milk. The pomp and circumstance was followed by a feast. After all of the eating was completed, the Luperci would cut thongs of skin from the sacrificed animals. Once they had done so, they would take two thongs and run through the hill, striking the thongs at women who came near them. It was believed at the time that a woman that was hit by one of the thongs would be fertile.

It wasn’t until 494 BC that the holiday was forbidden by Pope Gelasius I with the Christian Church. There are two theories as to what happened with this holiday after it was forbidden to celebrate it though.

The first is that Pope Gelasius I actually appropriated the holiday as the Feast of the Purification – aka Candlemas – which was celebrated on February 2nd but it is likely that this feast had been founded in the previous century before Pope Gelasius I existed.

The second is that he replaced Lupercalia with St. Valentine’s Day, but again the origin of the now commercialized holiday is believed to be much later than when Pope Gelasius I was alive.

And you may be wondering why I’m talking about this holiday. Is it part of the Wheel of the Year? Do you celebrate this holiday, Trula?

To answer that first question, no. The only holiday on the Wheel of the Year for February is Imbolc/Brigid’s Day. And to answer the second question, no, I do not celebrate the holiday but I have found it quite interesting to understand the true background of the holiday after its use in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina show on Netflix.

In regard to this replacing Valentine’s Day, I do not believe that it would have been even close enough to really replace it. But I also choose not to celebrate that holiday.

Before you get all bent out of shape about it or start saying it’s because you aren’t with someone, I would like to explain. First of all, everyone is entitled to celebrate what they want to. I believe it is stupid. I believe you do not need a designated day of the year to show someone that you claim to love that you love them. I believe that you should show someone you claim to love that you love them every day with random acts or gifts or however they like to be loved via their love language.

The holiday of Valentine’s can also be painful for those who may not be able to either celebrate with their loved ones – whether it be due to distance or for them not being on this plane of existence. So we don’t celebrate in my house.

With that, I do hope you enjoy our waltz through history for the holiday of Lupercali and how it was celebrated by Anicent Romans.

My love,