“ The smearing of the forehead with blood probably refers to human sacrifice originally practised at the festival. The sacrificial feast followed, after which the Luperci cut thongs from the skins of the victims and ran in two bands round the walls of the old Palatine city, the line of which was marked with stones, striking the people who crowded near. A blow from the thong prevented sterility in women. These thongs were called februa, the festival Februatio, and the day dies februatus (februare=to purify) ”

“ See Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, iii. (1885) p. 438; W. Warde Fowler, Roman Festivals (1899) , p. 390 foll., and article in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (3rd ed. 1891) .
↑ Many derivations are suggested, but it seems most probable that Luperci simply means “wolves” (the last part of the word exhibiting a similar formation to nov-erca) , the name having its origin in the primitive worship of the wolf as a wolf-god. ↑ Mommsen considers the Quinctia to be the older gens, and the Quinctilia a later introduction from Alba. ”