Kunat kalifee

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The kunat kalifee (Vulcan term, roughly translated as 'marriage or challenge') is a ritual which all Vulcan couples must endure at their marriage ceremony. Drawn together by the pon farr, a Vulcan man and woman will meet at an ancient temple on their homeworld and conduct the ceremony, usually presided over by an honoured Vulcan elder. Most of the time, the kunat kalifee proceeds without incident, and the couple's marriage is made official. However, sometimes the bride-to-be will insist on the Kalifee ("challenge") and select a champion to fight on her behalf - in this case, she may select any champion she wants, of any race, or she may fight on her own behalf if she wishes.

Sometimes, a Vulcan man who has not been promised (as a child) to a bride, will select a female of his own choosing and give her the kunat so'lik, a ritual Vulcan marriage proposal. (This happened in "Blood Fever", an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, when Ensign Vorik underwent the pon farr and chose B'Elanna Torres as his bride.) They then return to Vulcan (if the woman accepts the proposal) and conduct the kunat kalifee.