Lupercalia was an ancient Roman fertility festival held annually on February 15. Each Lupercalia began with the Luperci (a group of priests) sacrificing goats and a dog, after which two of the Luperci were led to the altar. Their foreheads were touched with a bloody knife, and the blood was wiped off with wool dipped in milk; the ritual required that the two young men laugh. The sacrificial feast followed, after which the Luperci cut thongs from the skins of the sacrificial animals and ran in two bands around the Palatine Hill, striking with the thongs at any woman who came near them. A blow from the thong was supposed to render a woman fertile.
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