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Happy Lupercalia! (and that other thing that happens on Feb. 14)

Submitted by kathycf on Tue, 2017-02-14 22:47

So yeah, it is still Valentine's Day (here), for a little while. Tomorrow, however, marks the celebration of Lupercalia, a festival that may be of interest to our various wolfy fans. Smile

From Encyclopædia Britannica:

Quote:
Lupercalia, ancient Roman festival that was conducted annually on February 15 under the superintendence of a corporation of priests called Luperci. The origins of the festival are obscure, although the likely derivation of its name from lupus (Latin: “wolf”) has variously suggested connection with an ancient deity who protected herds from wolves and with the legendary she-wolf who nursed Romulus and Remus. As a fertility rite, the festival is also associated with the god Faunus.

Each Lupercalia began with the sacrifice by the Luperci of goats and a dog, after which two of the Luperci were led to the altar, their foreheads were touched with a bloody knife, and the blood was wiped off with wool dipped in milk; the ritual required that the two young men laugh. The sacrificial feast followed, after which the Luperci cut thongs from the skins of the sacrificial animals and ran in two bands around the Palatine hill, striking with the thongs at any woman who came near them. A blow from the thong was supposed to render a woman fertile. In 494 ce the Christian church under Pope Gelasius I appropriated the form of the rite as the Feast of the Purification.

As usual, I have to post some images...

Heart burn? Tongue

I didn't make this one, but I thought it was so adorable:

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Comments

Submitted by bare_elf on Wed, 2017-02-15 02:42

kathycf wrote:

Makes me feel right at home Laughing out loud

Thank you once again for the interesting facts about obscure things and some great images. Both the ones you made and the ones you found.

Elf
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Submitted by Blondin235 on Wed, 2017-02-15 09:47

- ha, ha..!!

- love it Cheer
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Submitted by kathycf on Fri, 2017-02-17 09:21

I'm glad you guys liked my post. Smile I really like that picture of the girl (Little Red Riding Hood perhaps?) napping with the wolves. It reminds me of my dog, Dillon sleeping on my bed and kicking me in his sleep. The statue is an ancient Roman one (that is one patient wolf...)

Valentine's Day is now mostly about hearts, flowers, jewelry and candy (BUY STUFF! LOTS OF STUFF! Just like Christmas) so I thought "hey, why not something different?" ? Stare

I love the obscure stuff, so one of my go to sites to browse is Encyclopedia Mythica since they have so many interesting articles re:various cultures and folklore. I found this article about "Lupercus" there a bit ago, but it needed some fleshing out with more information. I found the picture of the girl and the "beating ladies with thongs" Laughing out loud guy while looking at the image results.

Another site I like to go to is The Public Domain Review which has, well, all kinds of stuff:

Quote:
You’ll find pieces on a wide and eclectic range of subjects – from a history of the smile in portraiture to the case of the woman who claimed to give birth to rabbits
Shock

So yeah, I'm a fount of mostly useless information gleaned over the years . BUT! Ask me if I ate today or even what day it is? Derp, I dunno! Can't remember "xxxx" syndrome, CSR. It is especially annoying when I wander into the kitchen and then forget why I went there in the first place, ugh.

My OCD just now compelled me to look up whether font or fount was correct {rolls eyes) turns out both are correct. There, now we *all* know this fairly useless bit of information. YOU"RE WELCOME!!!

Insane Tongue
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Submitted by sigofmugmort1 on Fri, 2017-02-17 11:46

There is NO useless information, just info you have not used yet Insane

Me, I like weird, odd facts Tongue

Insane Dwarf
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