The Roman festival of purification held on February 15 was Lupercalia.
Lupercalia was an ancient pastoral festival intended to purify Rome and promote health and fertility. It was celebrated on February 15, a date connected with older Roman purification rites known as the Februa. The month of February ultimately inherited its name from this purification tradition.
The Luperci, ritual participants associated with the festival, sacrificed goats and a dog at the Lupercal, the cave traditionally linked with the she-wolf that nursed Romulus and Remus. They then used strips of goatskin in a ritual race, striking people—especially women who wished to conceive—with the strips.
Lupercalia is sometimes described as the origin of Valentine’s Day, but that connection is uncertain and largely rests on later literary associations. It is also different from Saturnalia, the December festival famous for feasting and temporary social reversals. The festival continued into late antiquity, though its exact final date is unclear.