It’s the start of Lupercalia today!
The festival itself was originally of Lupercus, another name for Pan, and possibly linked with Faustus, a local god established by Evander (as in the Aeneid). Thai god protected shepherds and their flocks, from wolves particularly. As Rome grew from an encampment of shepherds to an established city, founded by Romulus and Remus that were (apparently… I might be with Livy on this one) suckled by a she-wolf (a ‘lupa’), the festival came to be more about the Mother Wolf, with the ritual performed in the wolf’s actual (apparently) cave – the Lupercal – and becoming more about fertility than straight up protecting sheep and goats.
It’s a fun little festival. It’s very much a posh Roman boy festival mind. The general public doesn’t get involved, and have to put up with bloody, half-naked teenagers running around the public areas and whipping people with strips of bloody goatskin. Definitely a recipe for an ASBO. And of course it lives in infamy due to the whole ‘me, wear a crown, noooo’ moment from Julius and Anthony’s whole thing.
Still, the picture’s nice, right?
You can get this design as a card or as merch in my Redbubble shop, or a print-your-own PDF download – as well as lots of Valentine cards in case you’ve left it til the last minute!
Valentines and LupercaliaCards, Stationery and Merch New for Lupercalia/Valentines’ day 2021, the following designs are available on cards, stickers, homeware and apparel in my Redbubble shop, or as download-and-print cards on Etsy and Gumroad. Go to the REDBUBBLE SHOP for cards and merch Go to the ETSY SHOP for downloads Go to the GUMROAD SHOP for downloads…
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