I have a Latin calendar - from the Middle Ages - on my bulletin board dotted by quotes from Virgil. It has caused me to wonder about various names and three years ago, I posted about TGIF - how Friday got its name. I have also mused about how the months got their names. Most are pretty clear, but my birth month of February remained a mystery.
Like Friday, the name February turns out to also have been female-centric. The Latin word februa translates as "means of purification." Februa were goat skin thongs used during Lupcalia, a Roman festival that took place in a grotto called the Lupercal. Goats were sacrificed to the Roman gods named Lupercus and Faunus where the priest were dressed in goatskins. Then the priests took the blood from the sacrifice, dipped thongs of goat skin in the blood and ran around hitting women with the thongs - supposedly assuring easy fertility and delivery.
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