…skip celebrating Valentine’s Day (which Saint Valentine has very little do to with love) and wait until tomorrow and celebrate Lupercalia, the “annual Roman festival held on February 15 to honour Faunus, god of fertility and forests.”
The religious ceremonies were directed by the Luperci, the “brothers of the wolf”, priests of Faunus, dressed only in a goatskin. During Lupercalia, a dog and two male goats were sacrificed. Two youths were anointed with the blood, which was wiped off with wool soaked in milk, after which they were expected to smile. They afterwards ran round the Palatine Hill with thongs cut from the sacrificed goats in their hands. These were called Februa. Girls would line up on their route to receive lashes from these whips. This was supposed to ensure fertility.