Beginning back in the days before Rome was Rome, a couple of \u201ccolleges\u201d of nearly naked young men would meet in mid-February in the ancient cave where Romulus and Remus were suckled by a she-wolf (luper in Latin). They sacrificed a goat, marking each other\u2019s foreheads with goat\u2019s blood (thus the signature red of the holiday) and drank a lot of wine, cut whips (called \u201cfebrua\u201d) from the goatskin, then raced through the hills and towns, gaily smacking the willing behinds of women looking for luck, love and perhaps a baby. For more about the history and meaning of the Lupercalia, and how it was outlawed and repressed by the Catholic Church, replacing it with the saintly, sanitized Valentine\u2019s Day!<\/p>\n
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