If you have seen women running through the streets from one place to another being chased by some half naked guys in wolf skins who whipped and whipped them with bloody strips of ram, do not be alarmed! they are just remembering an old pagan festival, something lewd that yes, but it was a sacred rite of purification and fecundity celebrated in Ancient Rome every February 15 called the lupercales or Lupercalia.

The word comes from lupus, that is, wolf and its Roman god of fertility and male sexuality Fauno Luperco (Greek mythological deity Pan, the one who protected the wolf), a strange, hairy being, with legs and horns of a goat and large, pointed ears with a voracious and infinite sexual appetite.

One of the legends tells that in the ancient city of Alba Longa, the evil Amulio after deposing his brother Numitor from the throne, ordered to kill all his first-born, turning his daughter Rea Silvia into a virgin so that she would not have successors, but The god of war Mars was enraptured by the girl and they procreated the brothers Romulus and Remus, who managed to escape from the clutches of their uncle Amulio, managing to survive in the forests thanks to the woodpecker and the she-wolf Luperca who nursed and raised them. Years later they would return to their homeland to take revenge and kill him.

Due to the shortage of fertility and women in Rome, the oracle of the goddess Juno announced that the mothers of Lazio would be fertilized by a male goat. For this purpose, a ritual was held every February 15 in the Lupercal cave - there where Romulus and Remus were suckled by the she-wolf - where the most virile young men were selected - those ephebos who, on their initiation path, had lived in the forests as human wolves—, called loberos or luperci (friends of the wolf), and their faces were marked with the blood of a dog and a sacrificed male goat.

To make the rite more fun and interesting, virile members were created in the form of strips with the skin of the goat ... The libido to the surface, the lustful participants launched themselves in the carnal search for women eager to be impregnated, who agreed in a Shameless sexual play, whipping and spanking included, in a depurifying act that increased fertility.

Christianity erased with a stroke of the pen this fun bacchanal, so beneficial to health and to the women of Ancient Rome, moving it to February 14, Valentine's Day.

Naked, in front of oneself, next to the oak, the sun awaits us, it plays night vigil.

Let the log burn, let us burn the old,

and with its ashes we purify our soul,

their fertile sowing give us an abundance of heart and wisdom.

May the ancestors join us in the great banquet until dawn.

The life that sleeps under the earth will be reborn after darkness.

Yule.

There is no people more feared than the Viking, they have gone down in history as barbarian invaders, cruel and ruthless warriors from the north who looted, conquered and killed with their deadly axes, however they were incredible navigators, merchants and discoverers, whose mythical stories echoed in the ancient east. Its legends and poems, written in ancient and magical runes, tell alliances and skirmishes between clans and villages, mythological stories where the fierce gods of Asgard, Thor, Migdar, Odin, the Ragnarok or the Valhalla appear, that majestic hall of the fallen where they lived, guided by the Valkyrie, the warriors killed in battle...

If you are a warrior and you don't have a beard, have it looked at... Let's take a look at history: Leonidas looked impressive with his 300 men…but his bushy beard was equally scary, Ciro and Jerges combed their incredible long beards, while Attila the Hun, whore a very thin but fine beard, in the Ancient Mesopotamia they even wore ringlets on theirs beards!! Let's remember the white beards of the Samurai masters, and the presumptuous Vikings who placed their razor blades in their tombs, what about the gods of Ancient Greece, Zeus or Poseidon...? and then came Alexander the Great and he screwed up by forbidding his soldiers to wear them because in battle their enemies caught them by making them fall off their horses. Neither did the Romans, because they gave them to the gods in their ritual (depositio barbae) of their passage from childhood to adulthood, or the native Indians who shaved like maniacs, and what about the pharaohs who manscaped their balls but wore false beards?? Well, in spite of these and other exceptions, the beard has its own twist and turns and brings out the warrior that exist in each of everyone of us.

Horns? Who needs those horns if not to drink beer, mead or whatever you want. If you want to imitate daring Vikings, please stop embellishing and sharpen your axe because your helmet does not have horns. Today this is already evident, but when German Romanticism - well, more precisely, in the illustrated re-edition of the "Saga of Frithiof" - and in Wagner's "Twilight of the Gods") and, later, Vicky the Viking was given to put two antlers on the helmet, we all ate it with potatoes. The damn truth is that in the tombs found there were some horns positioned near their hooves so that they could drink their favourite concoctions on their way to their bloody feast in Valhalla, hence the legendary confusion. Yes, the giants of the North wore helmets, shields, axes and swords, were butchered and worshipped gods such as Thor, Tyr, Freja and Odin, and none of them wore any kind of bony, pointed projection on their heads.

Not everyone who wanders is lost... It could symbolize a compass or the Vegvísir of the giants of the North, but the truth is that it is the adaptation of Da Vinci's Vitruvian man to bring us closer to the Viking anatomy. Clichés aside, were they muscular, tall, blond and blue-eyed, tattooed, with a beard and a big hair that you shit on? Well, yes, with nuances. As for the Scandinavian touch, it must be said that there was also ethnic diversity due to the migrations and abductions around Europe, their strength was that of the multi-faceted farmers who so soon fought, fished or farmed. They were fearful because of their height, the axes, the looting and those "little details" that we have been told about. It must be said that they were no more terrifying and violent than other people or civilizations of the time.

Not everyone who wanders is lost... It could symbolize a compass or the Vegvísir of the giants of the North, but the truth is that it is the adaptation of Da Vinci's Vitruvian man to bring us closer to the Viking anatomy. Clichés aside, were they muscular, tall, blond and blue-eyed, tattooed, with a beard and a big hair that you shit on? Well, yes, with nuances. As for the Scandinavian touch, it must be said that there was also ethnic diversity due to the migrations and abductions around Europe, their strength was that of the multi-faceted farmers who so soon fought, fished or farmed. They were fearful because of their height, the axes, the looting and those "little details" that we have been told about. It must be said that they were no more terrifying and violent than other people or civilizations of the time.

Disciplined centurions, medieval knights, furious Spartans, lethal Vikings, honorable samurai, untamed Celts, courageous Thirds, legendary native Indians, fearsome Aztecs... Warriors of the world who have changed history. Idealists and mercenaries faced almost always in cruel and unjust wars. Acts of heroism, bravery and honour are sullied by the most despicable and ruthless actions... The warrior by his activity of Justice, Fortitude and Temperance, has to avoid the effects of the wars, not to invent, to promote, to foment and to live of them.

Disciplined centurions, medieval knights, furious Spartans, lethal Vikings, honorable samurai, untamed Celts, courageous Thirds, legendary native Indians, fearsome Aztecs... Warriors of the world who have changed history. Idealists and mercenaries faced almost always in cruel and unjust wars. Acts of heroism, bravery and honour are sullied by the most despicable and ruthless actions... The warrior by his activity of Justice, Fortitude and Temperance, has to avoid the effects of the wars, not to invent, to promote, to foment and to live of them.

The Great Gastronomic Festival of the Northern Lands is already announced. Menu of the day: Butcher shop, farmhouse, spines, needles, blood sausages, neck, gizzards, feet, trotters, brains, snout, guts, broths, eyes, ears, livers, kidneys, tongues ... succulent and popular Nordic dishes to consume during the summer solstice. Sharpen your ax and come to enjoy this awaited Viking event. Gobble and devour these delicacies with the authentic house beer. What a sausage Fest!!! A Delicatessen!!! Skol!!!

There is no people more feared than the Viking, they have gone down in history as barbarian invaders, cruel and ruthless warriors from the north who looted, conquered and killed with their deadly axes, however they were incredible navigators, merchants and discoverers, whose mythical stories echoed in the ancient east. Its legends and poems, written in ancient and magical runes, tell alliances and skirmishes between clans and villages, mythological stories where the fierce gods of Asgard, Thor, Migdar, Odin, the Ragnarok or the Valhalla appear, that majestic hall of the fallen where they lived, guided by the Valkyrie, the warriors killed in battle...