Originally Posted by GTA:SWcity
Yes, I'd be interested to know as well... (snip)
Yeah, you're essentially Correct. The Romans had the festival of Lupercalia from the 13th to the 15th of February. Essentially, it was a festival to promote fertility, dedicated to Lupa, the surrogate wolf mother of Romulus and Remus.
The festivities usually entailed the sacrifice of a goat or two, and then they were skinned, and a certain caste of priest adorned themselves with the hides on their heads. These hides were known as Februa, which is obviously how we got the name February. The priests, adorned in the hides, ran around the city, with the women lining up to receive lashes from whips made from the goat hides, to promote fertility.
Oh, and there's St. Valentine and his eventual martyrdom, but hey, that's a bore pagan rituals are much more interesting. And titillating. Just remember that most holidays considered sacred in christian dogma are all derived from polytheistic pagan cult-like rituals.