Eyan Births

As the cubs are born, the aunties each take a little one, wash them and keep them warm. The human doctor Chi loves to play the part of an aunty after assisting with delivery.

When the mother is safe and all is well, she is washed gently with warm sponges by her immediate family. She is rubbed down with a salve made with windsnap tree sap and covered with warm, clean linens in her favorite soothing color.

The first feeding is accompanied by low humming, a sound similar to a cat's purr which lulls the mother and cubs into a gentle repose. Two or three aunties stay to assist the mother for at least three days.

It is on the third day the mother names her cubs, often choosing family names from two or three generations before or creating new names with familiar sounds. Families always have input, but the new mother gives the cubs their names.