Bajoran Proposal and Courtship Customs

[Dingo]

Were they ever covered in canon? I know that it seems that the male gives a betrothal braclet to his bride-to-be (source: Deep Space Nine ep: Fascination), but were there any other rituals associate with proposals?

I ask because for future chapter of my Voyager fanfiction my OC is going to be actively courting a certain Bajoran crewan.

 

[Vulcan Princess]

In addition to the betrothal bracelet, there were some wedding customs mentioned. (When Ben Sisko and Kassidy Yates were first planning their wedding, they were going to have a Bajoran ceremony.) I don't recall what the customs were, or which episode they were in, but it was sometime in the mid to late 7th season. Rom and Leeta were also married in a Bajoran ceremony, but it was a hurried ceremony, as the Dominion was getting ready to occupy DS9.

The only other thing I can think of is that naming conventions for children may be matrilineal. We don't really have much evidence either way, but Tora Ziyal was named in the Bajoran fashion after her mother, Tora Naprem. That could also be because she was born out of wedlock and Dukat didn't want to acknowledge her. (Incidentally, Dukat gave Naprem a betrothal bracelet as well. This strengthens the argument for the significance of the bracelet beyond just an isolated incident in Fascination.)

In Let He Who Is Without Sin, Leeta and Bashir go through an elaborate break-up ritual/ceremony on a vacation to Risa.

I hope this helps.

 

[Dingo]

I hope this helps.

It was fairly helpful, actually. For my story the protagonist is a human boyfriend with a Bajoran (admittedly an ex-pat Bajoran) girlfriend and the ups and downs of his relationship. It will ultimately end with the human boyfriend proposing with a Bajoran betrothal bracelet he replicated.

Tentatively the story is titled 'Romancing the Bajoran' and it'll largely be a fluff fic after the big epic that I'm working on right now.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Minor story critique. It doesn't sound romantic to replicate the bracelet. He should either make it or buy it instead.

 

[Dingo]

Good point. I never thought about it in that respect.

But think about it this way. On Voyager this is where they can't just replicate things, everything's rationed. Or perhaps he replicated the materials to do so and also gave replicator rations to some metal workers he knew to make a copy of a bracelet from the Celes family tree.

How's that sound Alidar Jarok?

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Yeah, that could work. I didn't realize it was on Voyager, which would change things a bit so a replicator would be fine.