## Architecture ## Beliefs ## Clothing ## Cuisine ## Customs ## Holidays ## Language ## Music ## Physiology ## Wellness The avian tradition of wellness is a combined practice of a flock ceremony of mindness and the act of preening. Preening is mainly done between romantic partners where they use their beaks and talons to straighten each others feathers and clean off dust. The mindness ceremony is a meditative circle held by flock elders under the aid of the arch buckle nut to connect on a spiritual level to the previous flock elders and to ask for their guidance in leading the flock. Both of these practices are profoundly intimate and done in company of one another. Thus, avian wellness is also a practice often done with one another, though often seen as less intimate as a one-on-one preening session. An avian preenhouse contains multiple pools and rooms for different purposes. There are public pools of lukewarm water and a fine sand powder for washing their feathers. These pools are often made to fit a small group of 3 to 5 avians at a time to conserve the intimate feeling. Next to the pools are racks of beakcombs and oils to straighten and protect their feathers. Outside of the public pools there are private preening chambers, which provide a similar rack of brushes and oils to help with the preening. Finally, a preenhouse will often have meditative chambers, where a ceremony leader chants old hymns in a darkened room filled with arch buckle smoke. The slightly psychedelic smoke enhances the meditation creating a sense of unity with the room.