feasts instituted in ancient Rome, in honour of the god Pan. The word comes from Lupercal, the name of a place under the Palatine mountain, where the sacrifices were performed.

The Lupercalia were celebrated on the 15th of the kalends of March, that is, on the 1st of February, or, as Ovid observes, on the third day after the ides. They are supposed to have been established by Evander.

On the morning of this feast, the Luperci, or priests of Pan, ran naked through the streets of Rome, striking the married women they met on the hands and belly with a thong or trap of goats leather, which was held an omen promising them fecundity and happy deliveries. See LUPERCI.

This feast was abolished in the time of Augustus; but afterwards restored, and continued to the time of the emperor Anastasius.—Baronius says it was abolished by the pope in 496.