What Was Lupercalia?
Some historians believe that Lupercalia, an ancient Roman pagan festival that honored the fertility gods, was a precursor to Valentine’s Day celebrations. Celebrated between February 13 and February 15, it was tradition for the women’s names to be added to an urn, and then drawn out by the men. Whomever’s name was drawn was meant to be that man’s prize for the festival.Brooklyn College: Lupercalia Ritual sacrifice for the festival required the slaying of lambs. The lambskin was then soaked in blood and two boys were given the duty of running around slapping people with the bloodied strips of lambskin. It was considered a great honor to be slapped by the skin, and women who hoped to conceive within the year did everything to ensure they were struck by the skin.Brooklyn College: Lupercalia Who Was St. Valentine? There are three different stories about the possible identity of the man the Valentine holiday was named for. One story speaks of a Roman Catholic priest who went against the edi
