Here we have a photo taken a few years ago when was revealed the famous Lupercal Cave. What is it? A sacred area, an underground cave, a point where mythology merges with history, the place where to which the emperor Augustus revived the already millenary tradition of the Lupercalia. What were they? First of all imagine how we are at the Palatine Hill, so the place where, according to the tradition, Rome was founded. You can understand how special is this place, and how really special could be the Lupercal Cave.
So the Lupercalia were holy days, in mid-February, in which we had to purify ourselves by thanking Luperco (archaic name of the Faun, protector of the woods and livestock ), so that it protected goats and sheep from wolves. A propitiatory rite, in short, organized in the middle of winter (in February), to hope for a good harvest. According to another tradition the Lupercalia was a nice way to thank the Gods for the story of Romulus and Remus, who were found and suckled by a she-wolf (an archaic animal believed to be a symbol of Mars, now God of War but originally God of Fertility). In short, a legend that is lost in the night of the centuries, to which the Romans felt very close to it, a founding myth that you can read better here.
Precisely for this reason, in the perspective of his propaganda, Augustus gave greater impetus to these festivals and rites. How did they take place? The rite was officiated by a magister who directed the Luperci, the real protagonists of the rite. They were half-naked young men with their faces covered in mud, girded at the waist with a goat skin (just sacrificed), and covered on the abdomen with animal fat. The Luperci were divided into two ranks (and still today we discuss where this clear distinction comes from), which had to present a new adept each who, on the occasion of the ceremony, would officially become a Luperco. How? Imagine the scene, inside this underground cave, perhaps artificial, lit only by candles. The chosen ones approached, and one after the other, dipped a knife in the still fresh blood of the goat that had just been sacrificed, leaving a red mark on their forehead. Then, with a wool bandage soaked in milk, the two dried and cleaned. Perhaps an ancestral rite of rebirth after death, or of continuation of the life cycle. Later, the skin of the goat was cut in order to create the fate of whips, which all the Luperci used to mark the ground and all those who came within range, women in particular (this gesture was propitiatory for, according to the Romans, have good fertility).
Imagine a group of young people, laughing and happy, hitting the ground and, above all, the women with strips of sacred goat's wool (a clear symbol of fertility and good omen). Let's read the words left to us by Valerio Massimo to have a summary of what has been described so far: "In fact, the sacred festival of the Lupercals began thanks to the work of Romulus and Remus, when, rejoicing at the permission of their ancestor Numitor, king of Alba Longa, to build a city in the place where they were born, under the Palatine hill, already made sacred by the Arcade Evander, made a sacrifice at the exhortation of their teacher Faustulus and, after killing goats, they let themselves go, made merry by the banquet and the wine drunk in abundance. Then, divided into two groups, girded with the skins of the immolated victims, they went to tease those they met for fun. The memory of this playful chase around is repeated every year since then". In this case we speak of other mythical figures such as Evander and, above all, of how the Lupercalia were occasions to remember, with particularly sacred rites, the sacred origin of Rome. In one way or another, the fact that Augustus wanted to restore prestige to this particular holiday shows us how, effectively, the pater patriae had a recovery of traditions at heart. As you can see, in Rome, the Caput Mundi, the ancient traditions, which may seem strange to us, certainly did not die ...