Klingon Weddings

[K'Tar KorDaS]

I do know that the fan club of IKBF in Virginia, The I.K.V. Bat'leth had one. It was a site to see, with all those Klingon uniforms.

If you would like to have one, I can make you bottles of Klingon Blood Wine to sever to your guest. Just let me know and I can send you samples.

 If you are trying to plain a Klingon themed wedding, please let me know and I will help you plain one.

Qa'Pla.

[qoSagh]

I have written a Klingon wedding and performed it several times, all predating the DS9 one. My club is based around a Klingon Fraternal Religious Order, so we have many ceremonies we do.  The wedding proved to be our most posular and we had to impose a moratorium on them for a while. This was more because the wedding was constantly being requested and none of the others were at all. We didn't want to make our club into "the klingon wedding guys" so we put the ban in effect.

This pretty much backfired as, DS9 did that episode and now just about all Klingon weddings being done follow that format instead of ours. Oh well, so be it. Someday I will perform another one.

qoSagh qlIStIy
meycha of the qaptaQ
Prothonotary of the Desert Rite

[KAllen]

My wife and I were married on Halloween '03 using a variation of the DS9 ceremony. Myself, my bestmand and groomsman were in Klingon. She was in a human type wedding dress, but had the ridges. One of her maids of honor was in uniform, the other 2 were sisters of us and were human.

We did change some of the text to no freak out the families(namely mine). We also cut out some of the bat'leH swinging cause she has bad aim and would prob. taken my head off.

We loved it, because we're now married in real life and in Klingon life.

[SoplaHtaHwI']

On three separate editions of the half yearly club meets of the Mainly German (although Scotland-founded) club I belong to, I've witnessed a mock-up, a real (the two humans were going to or already were married) Klingon marriage ceremony and even, if I'm not mistaken, a Klingon separation ceremony... Even the last seemed inspired by DS9's example marriage ceremony.

I personally do not see the DS9 ceremony happen outside the greater houses... A ceremony-less bonding like that of Worf and key'lehr looks much more like the thing I imagine...

[qoSagh]

Ther ceremony I wrote was based on trying to incorporate what was know about Klingons at the time as well as combat so trends I saw within fandom that I did not like. I always try not to use a single source for Klingon ceremonies, if for no other reason than the fact that I don't want someone comming up and saying "ooooo I know where you copied that from". The other reason is that I design all my ceremonies to be useable for any member of the club (or other clubs for that matter) so I do not want to draw to heavily from one ceremony and end up being offensive to one or more real life religions, which can happen easily if you are not careful. As for the DS9 ceremony, I basically liked it, but since we only saw part of the ceremony, I don't think there is enough source material to base an entire wedding off of. We have seen other things like love poetry, that can provide insight into Klingon relationships. I am not sure that the DS9 ceremony was as much House specific as it was Religion specific. They parable about the two hearts was more than likely a story from one religious tradition that may or may not be known or believed by all Klingons.

[Abbot Nej vIt]

I Think I Commented on this in another Thread, (Or Possibly Just in a PM with another Member),... Anyway, I Performed a Klingon Wedding Ceremony for Some Friends at Dragon Con a Few Years Back... ('98?), it was Incorporated into the "Trek Trak" Programming, and Went Over Very Well... It was Inspired by the DS9 Episode, but also had a Great Deal of Our own Stuff Worked into it...

In any Event, it seems the Important thing is that what ever Ceremony is Used, That Two Things Be Clear,

1- Separate Role-play from Real World...

AND

2- That the Folks Getting Hitched should Have Some Say in What they Want... (Especially if it is a "Real World" Event)...

[qoSagh]

I agree wholeheartedly, that seperation is imperative in such matters. Also I do agree that the couple involved must have some input, but I would also point out that may (real) religions have set ceremonies for such things, and only allow limited personalization. This could include choice of music, scriptural readings, or the like, but the basic framework and indeed much of what is said remains the same. I doubt that Worf and Dax would have been able to delete the story of the Klingon hearts beating together for instance.  

[Abbot Nej vIt]

I agree wholeheartedly, that seperation is imperative in such matters. Also I do agree that the couple involved must have some input, but I would also point out that may (real) religions have set ceremonies for such things, and only allow limited personalization. This could include choice of music, scriptural readings, or the like, but the basic framework and indeed much of what is said remains the same. I doubt that Worf and Dax would have been able to delete the story of the Klingon hearts beating together for instance.

qoSagh,

In Terms of "Real" Klingons, You are absolutely Correct... In Terms of Fans Wishing to have an "Unconventional" (Pardon the Near Pun), Ceremony, that will Result in a State Sanctioned Wedding Licence, That is Where I Feel those Involved need to be able to have some Creative Input...

But As I Have Mentioned to You Before, The Main Reason I Chose to be Ordained was so that I Could Help People who Wanted Unconventional but Legal Wedding Ceremonies, so that is Where My Comments were Coming From...

As Far as Klingon Tradition Goes, My Guess Would be that it would only be as "Wrote" as the Skill of the Story Teller would Allow... Hopefully Every Story about QeylIS (Kahless) For Instance, is Not Word For Word Regurgitation from Teller to Teller...

[qoSagh]

I agree that the oral history is probably the best, with the story teller's skill being integral to the telling of the story. I also do agree that there needs to be some input as to changible aspects of the ceremony, but I still think that the similarities will far out number the differences.

That being said the differences are what make the ceremony itself something to remember. It is also what keeps people comming to a specific cleric, there's that whole story teller thing again, as opposed to finding someone else to read a script.

The similarities however are the backbone, the structure to the ceremony and to a certain extent can not be dispensed with so easily. Think about wedding vows, some will use a traditional form and others will write thier own, but for the ceremonies that include/require such vows a couple would be hard pressed to delete them all together,  

[Klythe]

     I suppose discussing Marriage and Religion are virtually inseperable topics, but in this case I split off discussion of Klingon religious diversity and what makes a religion to another thread.  Thought it briefly veered back on topic, so that part is included below. 

I like the idea of regional differences, I also think that they could be differences between seperate Klingon religions. That has been discussed in other areas of the forums. The Empire is a big place, there is no reason to think that there is a single morphing Klingon religion.

That would be my Contention as well... And It Would Be Logical to Think that there would be Some Form(s) of State Recognized Procedure/Ritual which may not be Religious at all... If There were more than One Religion within the Klingon Empire, Then it Follows that There are Klingons Who are Not Religious, but may Still wish To be Wed? 

    Assuming for the most part that marriage is primarily a religious insititution, what interest would a Klingon government have in regulating and enforcing marriages?  Would the power for civil unions come from the High Council, the Chancellor?  Or perhaps some other social insititutions, sush as the Houses or would there need to be a formal institution at all?  Since most Klingon Honor appears to be enforced by soceity as a whole without any sort of formal structure.   After all we never see special "honor police", because every Klingon has a role in enforcing the code of Honor.

[qapIn]

I think for any secular Klingon, a bond, without a marriage ceremony as such, would suffice. A simple "I am man" "I am woman" "we are Klingon" with a affectionate nibble on the cheek...

No need to have that regulated by the State. Maybe the House Proctor.

[qoSagh]

I think that houses would take a major role in such matters, but that is also because most members of a given house are likely to be of the same religion. Religions (like the qaptaQ) that have a minister like position, may place more responsibility on the religious official. Others that do not have such individuals or structures may place the responsibility on elder family members, like a proctor or eldest son.

I am not sure that the government would have much role in marriage at all, as that might be seen as interference in family matters. If the High Council could decide who married who, they could forge or rip apart alliances or even effect potential breeding issues. In this way the council could ensure that they would never have a strong internal enemy.

[SoplaHtaHwI']

This sounds plausible.
So if there is any mingling to be done it is from the House (as the members likely share a religion) but not the government because all they would have to gain (which is quite a bit) is relief of Internal unrest through "arranged" marriages & the like. Very un-klingon for the Government to deal with such matters.