Lupercalia (February 15): a Roman Fertility Ritual

 

The she-wolf ("lupa"), Romulus and Remus on marble statue of emperor Hadrianus, Knossos (Crete), 2nd century CE (highlight added with Photoshop, is same colour as the rest in reality).

On February 15 , a fertility ritual would take place starting at the Lupercal, a cave on the Palatine hill in Rome. According to Roman mythology, that cave was the exact cave where Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome, and his twin brother Remus were suckled by a she-wolf [i].  

The story goes as follows: 

There was a girl called Rhea Silvia whose father used to be king, but he was dethroned by her cruel uncle. To prevent Rhea Silvia from having children, the new king forced her to become a Vestal virgin. Vestal virgins were priestesses of the Goddess Vesta who, as the name indicates, were forced to refrain from sexual activities. 

One day, Rhea Silvia was taking a nap in a grove that was sacred to the God Mars. As she was lying there, the War God Himself appeared before her and took advantage of her. Rhea Silvia ended up pregnant from her divine encounter and gave birth to the two baby boys Romulus and Remus, but Rhea Silvia’s account of what had happened could not convince her wicked uncle.

The boys posed a great threat to him as they could one day when they were old enough make a claim to the throne, so they had to disappear. The King ordered his servants to throw the twins in the river Tiber, but with a little help from the God Tiberinus, the personification of the river Tiber, they survived. 

They were found on the river bank by a she-wolf who took pity on them and took them to a nearby cave to suckle them until they were found by two shepherds. The cave was named “lupercal” as “lupa” means “she-wolf” in Latin [i][ii].

So on the Lupercalia, dogs and goats were sacrificed in the Lupercal and priests would conduct the following ritual:

After two young men of noble birth were brought to them, the priests would touch the foreheads of these young men with the bloodstained knife used in the sacrifices.

Then, they would wipe off the blood with wool dipped in milk.

After this, the two young men had to laugh as a part of the ritual.

Armed with these goat skin strips, 2 or later 3 teams of young men ran around the city, stark-naked, striking anyone that got in the way.

Being struck by these luperci, as they were called, was believed to increase fertility and ease child-birth, so some women deliberately tried to get hit. [iii]

Gods associated with this ritual are Iuno Lucina, Lupercus and Pan/Faunus.

The actual origin and meaning of this ritual was unclear even in antiquity –it most likely predated Roman times– but several theories were put forward to explain certain mysterious elements of the ritual:

The striking of women with goat skin for example was explained with the following story:

When king Romulus and his subjects were confronted with low childbirth, they went to a grove near the Esquiline Hill that was sacred to the Goddess Iuno.

When they were sitting there, knelt down in prayer, the tree tops started moving all of a sudden, and it was then that they heard the Goddess’ voice:

“Italidas matres sacer hircus inito!” (“Let the he-goat go into the mothers of Italy!”)

An augur that happened to be present interpreted the mysterious words and sacrificed a he-goat, skinned it and ritually whipped the women’s backs with strips made from the hide. Soon, many women became pregnant [i]. 

The part of the ritual were the luperci chased people naked was explained through the story of Romulus and Remus and the cattle thieves:  Right after a sacrifice to Faunus, Romulus and Remus were working out naked when they were informed that thieves were trying to steal their cattle. Unable to get dressed in time, they chased off the thieves naked.

Another explanation for their nudity can be found in the story of Faunus who snuck into a dark cave one day hoping to have his way with the beautiful queen Omphale.

As it was dark inside the cave, Faunus tried to figure out where queen Omphale was sleeping by feeling around with his hands, but what He did not know was that the queen had been having fun switching clothes with her companion Hercules earlier that night.

Deceived by the touch of soft clothes, Faunus ended up on Hercules’s couch and everyone woke up. When torches were lit, it became apparent what had happened and everyone made fun of Faunus.  Faunus decided He now hated clothes, as they had gotten in the way of his little plan [i].

The Lupercalia were celebrated during the Parentalia, a festival in honour of the ancestors that lasted for several days.

References:
[i] Ovid. Fasti: Book II, February 15.
[ii] Plutarch. Roman Questions: 68.[iii] Plutarch. The Parallel Lives: The Life or Romulus: 21.