Posted by Charles_Ca on 2/14/07 4:45pm
Msg #175693

Happy Lupercalia to y'all! n/m

Reply by christiSocal on 2/14/07 11:22pm
Msg #175740

sAY WHAT????????? n/m

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 2/15/07 10:04am
Msg #175766

Re: sAY WHAT?????????

Lupercalia


(lprkl“y) (KEY) , ancient Roman festival held annually on Feb. 15. The ceremony of the festival was intended to secure fertility and keep out evil. Two male youths, clad in animal skin, ran around the city slapping passersby with strips of goat skin. Because the youths impersonated male goats (the embodiment of sexuality), the ceremony was believed to be in honor of Faunus. The festival survived into Christian times and was not abolished until the end of the 5th cent.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 2/15/07 12:36pm
Msg #175816

OT: Thanks Sylvia, a couple of historical notes...

however that seem to be largely lost these days. In the early days of the Catholic Church there was a widespread practice by those entrusted with the expansion of the Church called synchronization. Synchronization occurred as the Church expanded into and area and they took existing feast days and substituted Church sanctioned feast days. Many of the feasts celebrated by Christians are based on these synchronizations. Lupercalia was one of those and was supplanted by St. Valentines Day. Being the iconoclast that I am I still prefer to consider it Lupercalia. One of the most well known of all Christian holidays, Christmas, was synchronized with one of the most important Pagan feast days: the Winter Solstice. Most scholars agree that Jesus Christ was actually born in the Summer. There are minor variations in the dates due to the changes in the calendars over the millennia. So now we can look forward to the Spring equinox; bring on the vestal virgins!

Reply by christiSocal on 2/15/07 4:11pm
Msg #175878

Interesting

I was aware of the synchronization (Although never heard that term for it before). But had never heard of Lupercalia either. Thanks, both of you, for the history lesson, the older I get the more interesting history gets!
Just keep those little goat boys away from me, with 5 kids I've been fertile enough!