These rites seem similar to the German Percht or Wilde
Jagd.
--- vandermok <vandermok@...> skrev:
> The legendary cavern where the she-wolf suckled
> Romulus and Remus could be the rival of the cave of
> the nativity in the collective imagery.
> In the Lupercalia, apart from immolating goats to
> Faunus Lupercus, the Luperci run naked, whipping the
> women they met by strips of skin of goat to increase
> their fertility, probably also saying, according to
> Ovid: "Italidas matres, sacer hircus inito" (that a
> sacred he-goat penetrate into the Italian women).
> See about G. Dumézil, 'La Religion romaine
> archaique", Payot, Paris 1974.
> The Church thought, wrongly or rightly, that women
> prefer mimosas and heart-shaped chocolates, instead
> of lashes and billygoats.