|
Plutarch's remarks might lead
one to believe that February is much tamer month than other sources of
Roman religious practice would have you believe. Perhaps he was being
humorous:
"February
comes from februa; and is as much a Purification month; in it they make
offerings to the dead, and celebrate the Lupercalia, which, in most
points, resembles a purification."
The Lupercalia, in fact, was a Roman festival believed to have been in
honor of Faunus, the god of flocks and fertility, who, as Lupercus, was
worshipped in a temple on the Palatine Hill. Celebrated on February 15,
this ritual was intended to ensure the fertility of people, fields, and
flocks for the new year. During this Roman feast , women wrote their names
on love notes, which were put into a container; the man who drew a note
would then seek that woman's favors. After sacrificing goats and a dog on
the Palatine Hill, young men called Luperci raced around the borders of
the hill striking those they met with whips made of the goat skins. Women
who were struck were ensured of fertility and of easy delivery of
children. The festival survived until the 5th century AD, when the
Christian church ended the Lupercalia, transforming it into the Feast of
St. Valentine, a Christian martyr who became the patron saint of lovers;
but in Britain the practice of drawing young women's names from a
valentine box persisted. Curiously, certain festival days are celebrated
throughout India on a day fixed according to the Hindu lunisolar calendar.
Among these, Holi, a spring festival in February or March, is a day of
riotous funmaking; this frequently involves temporary suspension of caste
and social distinctions, and practical jokes are the order of the day.
Thus, in Kalendarium , February is portrayed by an energetic dance evoking
the frenzied, erotic spirit of the Lupercalia. |