Lupercalia really should be better known, it makes Valentine’s Day seem rather tame. Imagine if people bought floggers rather than chocolates, and sent cards saying how much they wanted to put a special someone over their knee for a good spanking. The ancient traditions should be revived!
To commemorate the occasion I’ve just written a new longform story, a tale of spanking, ancient erotic rituals, naughtiness, innocence and erotic awakenings. If you enjoy the Spirit of Lupercalia, you might like it.
I try not to look at fancy whips online. Honestly, I do. Not only do Bethie and I have more impact toys than we know what to do with, but whips are expensive. I only have a couple (whipping is not really our thing) but I can’t justify buying more that I’m not really going to use all that much.
That said? The Asp Bullwhip managed to get under my somewhat feeble anti-consumerism defenses. I don’t need it, but I sure want it:
First of all, that cute little snaky slapper-snapper head really caught my eye. I knew a girl in college who really loved her some snakes. With this, I could have recruited her to the legions of kink inside of seven minutes. (Well, a guy in my position who knew what I know now could have done it. Me, I was too young and stupid.)
But the other thing about bullwhips is, most of them are so long you need forty acres and an air traffic controller just to use them. This one is short (just 32.5 inches) and looks like it would be very friendly to use. The catalog copy says:
The Asp is the tried and true classic bullwhip with a sinister and playful twist! The shaft of the whip consists of tightly woven jet black leather braids with a thick sturdy handle for grip and decorative tassels where the shaft meets the base. An attractive braided and tasseled wrist loop is attached to the handle for easy storage as well. What makes this bull whip so special is what lurks at the end of the tapered tip; a flat black 1.5“ wide crop-style snake head with two black split tongue-like leather tails for a slap and crack your submissive won’t soon forget! The compact size of this whip makes it perfect for easy handling and use in small spaces.
The authentic look of punished misery on her face is what caught my eye in this hairbrush spanking photo:
Turns out this is a shot from the movie Miya’s Severe Hairbrushing, from a spanking video producer (Southeastern Woodshed) that seems to be no longer in business.
Have you flogged your sweetie with a strip of fresh goatskin, yet, today? If not, you’d better get after it! Today’s Lupercalia, and time’s a-wastin’!
I rely for my authority about proper Lupercalian rituals on no lesser historian than the great Plutarch, who wrote in Life of Caesar:
At this time many of the noble youths and of the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with shaggy thongs. And many women of rank also purposely get in their way, and like children at school present their hands to be struck, believing that the pregnant will thus be helped in delivery, and the barren to pregnancy.
As for the connection between Luperalia and the holiday we now celebrate at St. Valentine’s Day, it is somewhat loose, but it’s detailed by Maggie McNeill at The Honest Courtesan, who expands upon Plutarch by explaining:
The ceremonies were presided over by the Luperci, goatskin-wearing priests of Lupercus (also called Faunus), who sacrificed a dog and two billy goats and anointed younger priests with the blood. After the sacrificial feast the Luperci would cut rough strips from the skins of the sacrificed goats and then young men of the equestrian and senatorial classes would run around the Palatine Hill swinging these makeshift lashes; girls and young women would line up along the parade route because it was believed that being struck by the whips conferred a blessing which would ensure fertility and ease the pains of childbirth. This popular celebration was eventually abandoned by the upper classes around the time of Julius Caesar, but it remained popular with the lower classes into Christian times until its observance was banned by Pope Gelasius I in 496.
Every now and then Met-Art shows one of its models in a lovely submissive pose. Here, Melisa A kneels before her master’s chair and waits for him to come and punish her as she deserves:
