Let’s travel back in time.
We are in ancient Rome, specifically on Palatine Hill, where the Lupercal cave is located. According to legend, this cave is where the she-wolf (Lupa) nursed Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of the city of Rome.
Palatine Hill in Rome
Today is February 15th, 490 CE. We are standing outside the Lupercal cave with a huge crowd, waiting to attend the Lupercalia festival. We are here to honor the divine deity Lupercus, also known as Faunus. Lupercus is the Roman god of the wild, shepherds, and fertility, often associated with nature and animals. Like the Greek god Pan, who has goat legs and horns, Lupercus also has animal-like features. He is half-human, half-canine, and he protects us from wolves, which pose a great danger to the flocks.
Now, the Luperci, priests of the divine deity Lupercus, have arrived. They will lead the ritual, which is meant to purify the city and bring health and fertility to the land and its people.
The Luperci enter the cave. There are more than twenty of them, a sizable group. Amid the crowd, I find a spot where I can clearly observe the ritual. I hear dogs barking and the bleating of goats. The cave is filled with these animals. The Luperci begin to chant prayers and decorate the animals with flowers, herbs, and leaves. Then, they take out their knives and kneel before the animals. An intense scent of myrtle and laurel fills the air. I realize one of the Luperci is cleansing the cave by burning these herbs.
With rhythmic clapping and chanting, the sacrifice begins. The Luperci first sever the animals’ heads and arrange them in a circular pattern on the altar. Then, they carefully skin the animals and collect the hides in a corner. The smell of blood overpowers the myrtle and laurel scent.
When the sacrifice ends, two Luperci lay their heads on the altar, completing the circle of animal heads. Two others place their blood-stained knives on the necks of the men on the altar. Strangely, the men laugh as they feel the knives on their skin. “This must be a symbolic enactment of human sacrifice for Lupercus,” I think, recalling that, in the past, human sacrifices were part of these rituals.
Lupercus (Faunus)
Next, the Luperci cut the goat skins into slim thongs and distribute them to the men waiting outside the cave. Those men then wear the dog skins on their shoulders and run down the hills, cheerfully striking the air with the thongs. Women chase after them. I notice flirtatious exchanges on the hills. At first, I did not understand why the women were so eager to be hit by the goat skins. Then I learn that it’s believed that being struck by the thongs brings fertility.
Later, I see some women cuddling under bushes or disappearing into the forest with their male partners, who struck them with the goat skin. This game also seems to be a way for women to choose their love partners for the day.
I hear that in the city, there’s a lottery for women who don’t dare to chase their partners on the hills. In this lottery, young men and women are paired to make love that day.
I have never witnessed so much public affection in my life. It turns out that the Lupercalia festival is a day of passion, love, and fertility. Later, there’s also a grand feast of goat and dog meat, which I choose to skip. The entire experience is eye-opening, revealing how love and fertility were celebrated in ancient times.
Six years later, in 496 CE, Pope Gelasius I banned this pagan ritual. However, people continued to celebrate love and fertility around this time of year. Over time, the embodied love and sacrificial practices of the Lupercalia festival, originally celebrated on February 15th (some accounts say between February 14th and 16th), evolved into St. Valentine’s Day on February 14th, reflecting Christian ideals of love and devotion.
Let’s come back to our era.
Each year, on February 14th, St. Valentine is revered on his feast day. And who is this Valentine? One legend states that he defied the Roman emperor’s ban on marriages for young soldiers and secretly performed Christian weddings to protect the men from going to war. Another story suggests that he helped persecuted Christians and was therefore imprisoned by the Roman emperor. While in jail, he healed the blind daughter of his jailer. Before his execution on February 14th (around 269 CE), he sent her a note signed “From Your Valentine.” This phrase later became the inspiration of modern love letters.
In all these stories, Valentine is known as a Christian priest. To be honest, I struggle to grasp how a Christian priest could be the universal symbol of love and passion around the globe. Call me weird, but the theriomorphic deity Lupercus seems much more connected to love and passion.
Reference:
Sophie Strand, The myth of St. Valentine’s Day, Substack, February 2023
ChatGPT – Lupercalia pagan festival and legends about St. Valentine
