Editing Pope Gelasius I (section)

== Suppression of the Lupercalia ==
{{see| Lupercalia#History}}
Closer to home, after a long contest Gelasius finally suppressed the [[ancient Roman]] festival of the [[Lupercalia]],<ref name=Ramsgate/> which had persisted for several generations among a nominally Christian population. Gelasius' letter to the Senator Andromachus treated the primary contentions of the controversy and incidentally provided some details of the festival, which combined [[fertility]] and [[Ritual purification|purification]], that might have been lost otherwise. 

Although the Lupercalia was a festival of purification, which had given its name "''dies februatus''", from "''februare''" ("to purify"), to the month of February, it was unrelated to the Feast of the Purification of the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]], also commonly denominated "[[Candlemas]]", which latter feast commemorates the fulfillment of the [[Holy Family]]'s ceremonial obligations pursuant to Mosaic law 40 days after the birth of the first son. In the instance of the [[Holy Family]], that occurred 40 days after [[Christmas]], on 2 February.