What was the feast of Lupercal?

First of all--terms. Lupercal was not a feast, it was a cave. It was supposed to be the cave where Romulus and Remus were nursed by the she-wolf. The feast was the Lupercalia. Both cave and festival come from the Latin Word for wolf (lupus). The Lupercalia was a religious festival in honour of Lupercus, a pastoral god of fertility and protector of sheep and goat from attack by wolves. It was officiated by priests called luperci. It lasted three days and started with the sacrifice of two goats and a dog by the Lupercal. Two youths were initiated to the priesthood. A feast followed. On the last day the priests cut the goat skin and covered part of the body of two initiates with it because Lupercus was depicted as half covered with goat skin and half naked. They also made thongs with the goat skin.

The Lupercalia was a very old festival (probably pre-Roman) of both purification and fertility. The two half-naked youths led the priests in a run around the Palatine hill and hit the ground and people with the thongs. Young women would hold out their hands to them and would have their hands hit. This was supposed to ensure fertility and ease the pains of labour. As the men ran around the perimeter of Palatine Hill, the hitting of the ground purified and protected the hill. The evil which caused illness was supposed to be driven out. The priests were both goats (a symbol of fertility) and dogs (protectors of the flock from the wolves). The thongs were called februa (a Latin Word which referred to means of purification) and the festival occurred in February, the month of purification. It was one of the logiest surviving pagan festivals. It was finally suppressed by Pope Gelasius in 495.