Love Unfolds the History of St. Valentine’s Day – Part 1 – Lupercalia
Lupercalia
Valentine’s Day began over 2,700 years ago. At this time Rome, Italy, was just a small settlement on the Tiber river. During the night time hungry wolves howled outside the city gates. These wolves would kill sheep and sometimes even people.
The people of Rome prayed to Lupercus to keep them safe and drive the wolves away. Lupercus was a Roman god that watched over sheep and shepards. The word lupus is Latin for wolf. They held a holiday called Lupercalia, on February 15th, each year for Lupercus. Lupercalia was centered around a cave on Palatine Hill, called the lupercal.
The word Lupercalia comes from lupus, or wolf, so the holiday may be connected with the legendary wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus. According to Roman mythology, the founders of Rome were Romulus and Remus.
Romulus and Remus
The story begins with the deposition of the grandfather of Romulus and Remus who was a descendant of the fugitives of Troy. Numitor, their grandfather, was king of the ancient Italian city of Alba Longa. He was ousted by his brother Amulius.
Numitor’s daughter, Rhea Silvia, was made a Vestal Virgin by Amulius and forbidden to marry since her children would be rightful heir to the throne. Mars, the god of war, fell in love with her and she gave birth to twin sons named Romulus and Remus.
Fearing that the boys would grow up and seek revenge, Amulius had them placed in a basket and thrown into the freezing flooded waters of the River Tiber. This practice was a form of quasi-infanticide tolerated in many ancient cultures, including the Roman and Greeks.
When the waters fell, the basket came ashore on Palantine Hill. The infants were found by a she-wolf who, instead of killing them, nurtured and nourished them with her milk. A woodpecker brought them food as well. Both these animals were sacred to Mars.
Romulus and Remus were later discovered by Faustulus, the king’s shepard. He brought the children to his home and raised them with his wife, Acca Larentia.
When they reached adulthood, they led a band of shepards in an uprising against Amulius. They defeated Amulius and restored the kingdom to their grandfather.
Romulus and Remus the decided to found a town of their own. They chose the sacred place where the she-wolf had nursed them as infants.
Romulus began to build walls on the Palatine Hill. During a quarrel, Remus mocked the the height of the walls since they were so low. In anger, Romulus killed his brother. Romulus continued the building of the new city, naming it Roma (Rome) after his own name.
The End
Lupercalia was held in the spring since February occurred later on the ancient Roman calendar than it does today. Each year on February 15, the Luperci priests gathered on Palantine Hill at the cave of Lupercal, since according to legend this was the cave where the lost twins Romulus and Remus were nursed by the she-wolf.
The priests, or lupercai and the youths of the city would don loincloths made from goat’s skin. As they ran about the city, the young men lightly struck women along the way with strips of the goat hide, since it was considered the thing to do to be fertile. It is from these implements of purification, or februa, that the month of February gets its name. This act supposedly provided purification from curses, bad luck, and infertility. February comes from the Latin word, febru, which means “to purify,” because the purification of women took place in this month.
One part of the Lupercalia Festival was a lottery. The names of available maidens were placed in a box and drawn out by the young men. Each man accepted the girl whose name he drew as his love – for the duration of the festival, or sometimes longer.
End of Part I
Read Part 2
Lady Sharon
Scribe of the Knights of the Pain Table
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