The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1898-03-12

man would appear as Pan, alias Luz
percus, alias Faunus. alias Inuus.
dealer in grain and crops. grape grow
er, proprietor Of the woods and fields.
the god OF plenty" In ancient times
30 important a parsonage as he who
controlled the increase OF the products
OF the earth must necessarily have been
shown great consideration, and Il was
peculiarly fitting. when the grasp Of
winter was about to be loosened from
the face of the earth and life was
about to spring up In grass and flower
and tree, that an entertainment should
be given for this god Of the aliases.
From time immemorable, therefore,
the 18th Of February was given up to
his worship. Youths OF the best Ro-
man families assembled then In the
grotto Of the Palatine hill. Cakes
made by the vestal virgins from the
hrst fruits Of the preceding year were
offered Goats and young dogs were
killed and, when two OF the youths
had been chosen and brought forward,
their foreheads were smeared with the
blood from the knives used In the sac
rifice. A feast followed, and then the
young men, clad in the skins of goats
and armed with thongs Of the same ma
teriai, ran around the city, striking
with the thongs the thousands who
put themselves in the way. To be
struck thus was a symbol Of purifica-
ton, implying increase for the future
The thongs were "februa," purifiers,
and so the month. But the most pop
ular custom Of this festal day was The
assembling Of youths and maidens-
The names Of The maidens were put
into an urn and those Of the youths
likewise, and then each drew a slip
from the proper vessel, having upon
1t the name of the one to whom 1t was
his duty to be devoted during the re-
mainder Of the year. The custom was
almost universal in the city Of Rome,
and continued undated for five hun
dred years Of the Christian era. Then
happened one of the most humorous
incidents recorded in history. Pope
Gelasius was a sober minded man,
shrewd and sanctimonious, having lit
tie tolerance for the revelries of pagan
Rome. The festival Of the Lupcrcal,
with its attendant worldly customs,
seemed to him out of place In a Chris
tan age. He was sagacious enough,
moreover, to know that a suppression
Of so long standing popular observance
was impossible. He therefore decreed
this change in 1876. The date OF the
festival was put a day earlier in the
month and the occasion was made one
In honor to St Valentine, a good and
charitable bishop who had become a
martyr two hundred years before.
When the young people were assembled
FOR the drawing Of lots, instead of Writ
Ing their own names upon the slips, |
they were to inscribe there the name |
of saints. The saint whose name any
one might draw was to be his patron
Tor the rest Of the year, to be honored |
and worshiped by him. It was indeed |
, clever idea to accept the existing con-
iitions, and to endeavor to turn them |
INTO channel which would make for |
The building up Of the new faith. But,
shrevd as he was. Gelasius was not far |
sighted enough to see that there was
something deeper than the worship OF |
Pagan Pan behind this little custom of |
he Lupercalia- Human nature was /
here, at the heart OF 1t, and the task |
If Hercules with the River Aulis was
ess difhcult of successful achievement |
han the slight change which the pious
,ope had made. involving a matter of
popular fancy.
1t Is little wonder. then, that, though
he name and date remained as chang
d, the old custom Of drawing lots Tor
or valentines" reappeared.
n Europe and England until recently
'oung people came together on the day
a question and observed the identical
ustorn which the Romans celebrated
4 old on the day Of the Lupercalia.