Lupercales

Lupercal partiesOil on canvas by Andrea Camassei.

Adam Elsheimer's circle Cupid and fertility personifications find the Luperci disguised as dogs and goats.

In Ancient Rome, the lupercalia festivities, also called simply lupercalia or even lupercalia (in Latin, Lupercalia), were celebrated ante diem XV Kalendas Martias, which is equivalent to February 15. Its name supposedly derives from lupus, for the wolf, an animal that represents the god Faun, who took the nickname of Luperco, and from hircus, for the goat, an animal impure.

Each year, a special congregation of priests, the Lupercos or Luperci or Sodales Luperci<, was chosen from among the most illustrious members of the city. /i>, that is, "friends of the wolf". They must originally have been adolescents who during the time of their initiation into adulthood survived by hunting and prowling in the woods. It was then a sacred and transitory time when they behaved like human wolves. They met on February 14 in the newly found grotto, later called Ruminal, in honor of Romulus and Remus, on Palatine Hill, the central hill where, according to tradition, Rome was founded. According to tradition, it was in this place where Fauno Luperco, taking the form of a wolf, Luperca, had nursed the twins Romulo and Remo, and in whose honor the festival was held. Tradition also tells that there was a fig tree there whose roots had stopped the basket inside which were the twins Romulus and Remus.

Under the shade of this venerable fig tree, called Ruminalis, the festival began with a ceremony officiated by a priest in which a goat was immolated. Later that same priest touched the foreheads of the < i>luperci with the knife stained with the blood of the sacrifice and then erased the stain with a lock of wool soaked in goat's milk. This was the moment in which the lupercos burst into a ritual laugh. Next, a procession was formed with the naked lupercos that wore strips or straps made with the skin of the recently immolated goat and with them they whipped the hands and backs of the women. women they found along the way willing to be part of the ceremony; it was the ritual for fertility. This was also considered an act of purification, the so-called februatio.

Tour

Rests of the Ara Maximum of Hercules Invicto, in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.

According to a passage narrated by Tacitus, the procession left Lupercala towards the Forum Boario to the south of the Palatine Hill and arrived at the Ara Máxima of Hercules Invicto. They passed by the altar of Consus and the sanctuary of the Lares to finish at the starting point. The tour was not a serious act as the beginning of the ceremony had been; the lupercales themselves, encouraged by the public, turned the ride into a carnival whose shouts, songs and dances became obscene.

With the passage of time, Pope Gelasius I prohibited and condemned, in the year 494, the pagan celebration of the lupercalia. He wanted to Christianize this festivity, and replaced it with the Feast of Purification, which would be celebrated on February 2, with the procession of the candles. This celebration was later joined to the liturgy of the Presentation of Jesus, due to the reference that the old Simeon makes, in his song, Christ as "light of the nations", associated with the candles, torches and candles lit in the hands of the faithful. February 2 marked the forty days since, in the time of Saint Ambrose (Ambrose of Milan), December 25 was set as the date of the birth of Jesus, also to banish the pagan celebration of the cult of Helios.

The Lupercalia at the end of the Roman Empire

Lupercalia appear marked on the 354 chronograph, along with other traditional and Christian festivals. Despite the prohibition made, in the year 391, of all non-Christian cults and festivals, the people considered Christian celebrated the lupercalia regularly during the period of Emperor Anastasius I. Pope Gelasius I (494-496), who claimed that only the "vile rabble" participated in the festival, he tried to abolish it forcefully; the senate protested, arguing that the lupercalia were essential to the safety and well-being of Rome. This made Gelasio suggest, with an attitude of contempt, that "If you claim that this rite has health benefits, then you celebrate it in the manner of our ancestors; run naked, you who can stage the farce very well." This comment was addressed to Senator Andromaco, in an extensive literary epistle by Gelasius that was practically a diatribe against the lupercalia.

Historians generally assert that Gelasius eventually abolished the lupercalia, after a long dispute, replacing it with the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, though Jack B. Oruch instead says there is no written record that show that Gelasius even attempted to replace the lupercalia.

Some researchers, such as Kellog and Cox, have separately claimed that modern Valentine's Day customs originate from the customs of lupercales. Other authors have rejected this claim: they say there is no evidence of that the modern-era customs of Valentine's Day have their origins in the customs of lupercalia, and this claim appears to stem from misconceptions or misconceptions about the festivities.

In art

In literature

César rejects (44 A. C.) the diadem offered by Marco Antonio during the Lupercales.

• The poem number 18 of the book III of the Odas (Carmina) of the Latin lyric and satirical poet Horacio Flaco, describes the Lupercalia and is an hymn to the fauno. The author asks the faun to bless his cattle and his fields because, when the faun is near, the whole field is happy.

• In the tragedy Julius CaesarWilliam Shakespeare starts talking about the skylights. Marco Antonio, head of the Lupercos, called Julians, a third order, created by Caesar, receives from him the instruction to touch his fourth wife, Calpurnia, during the Lupercals, in the hope that he may conceive. Next, the corresponding fragment, at the second scene of Act I:

CÉSAR. - Calpurnia!

CASCA. - Silence, oh! Caesar speaks.

(Cesa music.)

CESAR. - Calpurnia!

CALPURNIA. - Here you are, sir.

CÉSAR. — Get in the direction of Antonio's passing when he starts his career. Antonio!

ANTONIO. - Caesar, sir!

CÉSAR. — Do not forget the speed of your career, Antonio, to touch Calpurnia, for, when we say of our ancestors, the unhappy one, touched in this holy career, is rid of the curse of his sterility.

ANTONIO. - I'll keep it in mind. When Caesar says, "Do this," it is done.

CÉSAR. - Go on, and don't forget any ceremony.

Later, after Caesar's assassination, Mark Antony delivers his funeral speech. Next, the text of the second scene of act III (line 74), where he explains how, in the lupercalia, he offered Caesar the crown three times:

ANTONIO: You all saw that in the Lupercales I presented three times a real crown, and rejected it three times. Was this ambition?

Legacy

The Ode III, 18 of Horace alludes to the Lupercalia. The festival or its associated rituals gave their name to the Roman month of February (mensis Februarius) and from there to the month modern. The Roman god Februus personified both the month and purification, but appears to be later than both.

William Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar" begins during the Lupercalia. Marco Antonio is instructed by César to beat his wife Calpurnia, in the hope that she can conceive.

Research published in 2019 suggests that the word Leprechaun derives from "Lupercus".

In the second season of the Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, the witches celebrate Lupercalia.