<P> Lupercalia was celebrated in parts of Italy and Gaul; Luperci are attested by inscriptions at Velitrae, Praeneste, Nemausus (modern Nîmes) and elsewhere . The ancient cult of the Hirpi Sorani ("wolves of Soranus", from Sabine hirpus "wolf"), who practiced at Mt . Soracte, 45 km (28 mi) north of Rome, had elements in common with the Roman Lupercalia . </P> <P> Descriptions of the Lupercalia festival of 44 BC attest to its continuity; Julius Caesar used it as the backdrop for his public refusal of a golden crown, offered to him by Mark Antony . The Lupercal cave was restored or rebuilt by Augustus, and has been speculated as identical with a grotto discovered in 2007, 50 feet (15 m) below the remains of Augustus' residence; according to scholarly consensus, the grotto is a nymphaeum, not the Lupercal . The Lupercalia festival is marked on a calendar of 354 alongside traditional and Christian festivals . Despite the banning in 391 of all non-Christian cults and festivals, Lupercalia was celebrated by the nominally Christian populace on a regular basis, into the reign of the emperor Anastasius . Pope Gelasius I (494--96), claiming that only the "vile rabble" were involved in the festival, sought its forceful abolition; the senate protested that the Lupercalia was essential to Rome's safety and well - being . This prompted Gelasius' scornful suggestion that "If you assert that this rite has salutary force, celebrate it yourselves in the ancestral fashion; run nude yourselves that you may properly carry out the mockery ." The remark was addressed to the senator Andromachus by Gelasius in an extended literary epistle that was virtually a diatribe against the Lupercalia . The claim that Gelasius abolished the Lupercalia is frequently made but there is no evidence to support it . </P> <P> Some authors claim that Gelasius replaced Lupercalia with the "Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary," but researcher Oruch says that there is no written record of Gelasius ever intending a replacement of Lupercalia . Some researchers, such as Kellog and Cox, have made a separate claim that the modern customs of Saint Valentine's Day originate from Lupercalia customs . Other researchers have rejected this claim: they say there is no proof that the modern customs of Saint Valentine's Day originate from Lupercalia customs, and the claim seems to originate from misconceptions about festivities . </P> <P> Horace's Ode III, 18 alludes to the Lupercalia . The festival or its associated rituals gave its name to the Roman month of February (mensis Februarius) and thence to the modern month . The Roman god Februus personified both the month and purification, but seems to postdate both . </P>

What holiday originated as the ancient roman festival of lupercalia
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