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Lupercalia
The ancient Roman rite of purification and fertility, in which young men ran through the city with strips of goat hide.
About Lupercalia
Lupercalia was held in mid-February in Rome at the Lupercal cave, said to be where the wolf nursed Romulus and Remus. Priests called Luperci sacrificed goats and a dog, and young men ran around the Palatine hill striking onlookers with thongs of the hide. Women who were struck were believed to be helped in fertility and childbirth. The rite is among the best known of Roman religion but is only patchily described, so its meaning has been argued for a long time. Pope Gelasius is said to have ended it near the end of the fifth century, and the link made today between Lupercalia and Valentine's Day is thin.
Also part of it, and being written: Lupercalia (The festival and its priests.), Valentine's Day (Often wrongly treated as its descendant.).
Written by the EveryJaadu desk with AI assistance. Background: "Lupercalia" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family, and are described as belief and practice. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.