Lupercalia  Lupercalia was an ancient, possibly pre-Roman pastoral annual festival, observed in the city of Rome from the 13th to the 15th of February to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility. Lupercalia was also called "dies Februatus", after the instruments of purification called "februa", which gave February "(Februarius)" its name. The festival was later known as Februa ("Purifications" or "Purgings") after the ' which was used on the day. It was also known as ' and gave its name to Juno Februalis, Februlis, or Februata in her role as its patron deity; to a god called Februus, and to February ('), the month during which it occurred. Ovid connects ' to an Etruscan word for "purging". Some sources connect the Latin word for fever ("") with the same idea of purification or purging, due to the sweating commonly seen in association with fevers. The name "Lupercalia" was believed in antiquity to evince some connection with the Ancient Greek festival of the Arcadian Lykaia, a wolf festival (, "lýkos"; ), and the worship of "Lycaean Pan", assumed to be a Greek equivalent to Faunus, as instituted by Evander. Justin describes a cult image of "the Lycaean god, whom the Greeks call Pan and the Romans Lupercus", as nude, save for a goatskin girdle. It stood in the Lupercal, the cave where tradition held that Romulus and Remus were suckled by the she-wolf (Lupa). The cave lay at the foot of the Palatine Hill, on which Romulus was thought to have founded Rome. The rites were confined to the Lupercal cave, the Palatine Hill, and the Forum, all of which were central locations in Rome's foundation myth. Near the cave stood a sanctuary of Rumina, goddess of breastfeeding; and the wild fig-tree ("Ficus Ruminalis") to which Romulus and Remus were brought by the divine intervention of the river-god Tiberinus; some Roman sources name the wild fig tree "caprificus", literally "goat fig". Like the cultivated fig, its fruit is pendulous, and the tree exudes a milky sap if cut, which makes it a good candidate for a cult of breastfeeding.