It’s Lupercalia time, baby
On this day the ancient Romans remembered the She-wolf who suckled the baby Romulus—the future founder of Rome–and his brother Remus.
The priests of Rome, known as the Luperci, or ”Brotherhood of the Wolf,’ would commemorate this day by running around in loincloths smacking women on the back with an animal-skins.
What is immediately apparent in a comparison between the sacred rites of then and now is that then it was much more fun being a priest.
The ritual was intended to promote fertility, and the part about whipping girls legs is still practiced on Easter Monday in parts of Eastern Europe.
It is said that over time this festival of the Romans was superseded by the Purification of the Virgin and the Festival of Saint Valentine.
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[...] Lupercalia commemorated the She-wolf that suckled the babies Romulus—founder of Rome—and his brother Remus in a cave on the site of the future capital. On February 15 each year a group of priests known as the Brotherhood of the Wolf, or Luperci, would strip to their birthday suits and sacrifice a dog and goat at the cave. Then they’d put on loincloths of the goat’s skin and go about the streets of Rome smacking women on their backsides with an animal skin lash. This was intended to promote fertility and ease the pangs of childbirth. [...]