Wolf Boy

 Today is February 15th which, in the Ancient Roman calendar, was the festival of Lupercalia on which the wolf deities were honoured. This story is Irish rather than Roman, but gives due honour to the power of lupines. Irish texts differ a little as to the names of characters, but the key points in the story have consistence - the queen has a prophetic dream about her descendants, the king dies at the hands of the treacherous Lugaid MacConn, and his wife flees for her life only to give birth and for the infant to be raised by wolves. In this respect there is an echo to the Roman myth that forms the core of Lupercalia, which also relates to wolves rearing lost human infants. 

This could be regarded as a totemic story in which the people of Cormac become associated with wolves - perhaps an older understanding of the story would have seen them as having a long-term association with lupines.



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