koon-ut-kal-if-fee

koon-ut-kal-if-fee

koon-ut-kal-if-fee (TOS 34)

First Appearance	TOS 34 (15 Sep 1967)
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The koon-ut-kal-if-fee was a millennia-old Vulcan ritual that translated roughly into English as "marriage or challenge." A Vulcan man going through pon farr would marry the woman he had been bonded to as a child, or engage in ritual combat to win her or die trying. The ritual began with the man, accompanied by his closest friends, sounding a gong at a predetermined ritual site. The bride then arrived, accompanied by a procession of the officiant and several guards. The ritual almost always ended with the betrothed pair entering into marriage, but some women, such as T'Pring, opted for the challenge on rare occasions. If the challenge was chosen, ritual combat involved first the lirpa, followed by the ahn woon.