Whelp Ceremony

Whelp Ceremony

A whelp ceremony is performed when a pup is ready to become an apprentice, normally at the age of six months old but sometimes it takes longer due to illness, punishments for breaking the Warrior Code, or other reasons. The Pack leader will call a Pack meeting to make the pup a whelp and assign them a mentor. The following words are used traditionally:

(Pup Name), you have reached the age of six months, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you become a warrior, you will be a whelp. Your mentor will be (Mentor Name). I hope (Mentor Name) will pass down all he/she/they know on to you.
The leader then calls up the warrior they have chosen to be the whelp’s mentor.

(Mentor Name), you are ready to take on a whelp. You have received excellent training from (Their Previous Mentor’s Name), and you have shown yourself to be (quality) and (quality). You will be the mentor of (Whelp), and I expect you to pass on all you know to (whelp).
The mentor then touches noses with the whelp and the Pack calls out the whelp’s name.

Healer Whelp Ceremony

The same things happen, but at the next half-moon, the healer whelp will go with their new mentor to the Sacred Ruins to meet the other healers and healer whelps. The healer then presents their new whelp to their warrior ancestors, and the whelp confirms their wish to be a healer. By tradition, these words are used:

Healer: (Healer Whelp), is it your wish to learn the intricacies of medicine and become a healer?

Whelp: It is.

Healer: Then come forward.

Healer: Ancestors, I present you with this whelp. They have chosen the path of a healer. Grant them your wisdom and insight so that they may understand your ways and heal their Pack in accordance with your will.
The healer whelp then drinks from the pool at the Sacred Ruins and meets with their ancestors.