The Lupercalia

The Lupercalia was one of the most important Roman festivals, a
rowdy fertility festival loosely connected to the legend of the
wolf that suckled the twin babies, Romulus and Remus, the
founders of Rome, in her cave the Lupercal on Palatine Hill.
Although eventually fixed on the 15th day of February, it was
probably once a full moon festival (when the month started at
the new moon).

On this day, a band of priests called Luperci gathered at the
Lupercal, sacrificed goats and a puppy and made offerings of a
sacred grain mixture, mola salsa. Two youths were smeared on the
forehead with the sacrificial blood, which was wiped off with
swatches of milk-soaked wool. After a feast, they stripped off
their clothes, wrapped themselves in the still-warm, still-wet
skins of the sacrificed goats and ran around the circumference
of the hill, striking everyone they met with goatskin thongs,
called februa. Being struck by these whips was considered lucky
for women who wanted to become fertile. *wonders what is up with
the goatskin thong*

When the Pope first tried to ban the Lupercalia in the 5th
century, there was so much outrage that the papal residence was
completely surrounded by the angry mob. He backed off and the
festival was not officially banned again until the next century.