February 14th was a festival to honour Juno, the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. Juno is the Goddess of women and marriage. It is also the eve of important Roman festival. The following day Febuary 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia.
In the early days of Roman, fierce wolves roamed the woods and the Romans called upon one of their gods, Lupercus, to keep the wolves away. A festival celebrated on February 15th was held in honuor of Lupercus. It is a thought by some that this festival was to honour the god of heard and crops, Faunus. Since the origin of the festival is so ancient, even scholars of the last century before Christ were uncertain.
The Feast of Lupercalia was celebrated as a spring festival. The calender of that time was different, with February occuring in early spring time, later than it is today.
Historical records show that Mark Antony, was master of the
Luperci College of Priests. The Luperci priest would gather on the Palatine at the cave of Lupercal each year. According to legend, the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, had been nursed by a mother wolf. The Latin word for wolf is
lupus. Thus at the door of the cave, goat and dogs were sacrificed.
In the ritual, two young men of noble birth were brought forward, and have their forehead smeared with blood and wiped off with the sheepswool dipped in milk. They are to laugh and run through the Roman streets lashing about them with goatskin thongs. The street would be croweded with young women, for the lash of the sacred thongs was believed to improve their fertility to bear children. The goatskin thongs were the februa, the lashings the februatio, both deriving from a Latin word meaning to purify. From it comes the name of the month of February.
The lives of young Roman boys and girls were seperated strictly. On these occasions, one of the customs of the time amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, was name-drawing love lottery for young people. On eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman maiden were written on slips and placed into jars. On this evening each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar. As chance directed the girl whose name was drawn was assigned to be his partner and sexual companion for the duration of the festival. The pairing of these young people lasted the remaining year and often they would fall in love and would latter marry.
Rome under the rule of Emperor Claudius II was involved in many unpopular and bloody wars. Claudius was having difficulty getting soldiers to join his military leagues. Believing that the reason Roman men would prefer to stay with their love ones or families at home rather than fight his wars, Claudius decreed the ban on all engagements and marriages in Rome.
