Bajoran earring

The Bajoran earring was an elaborate piece of jewelry worn by the Bajoran people as a symbol of their religious faith.
==History==
In 2346, a Bajoran earring made of ultritium resin was used in an assassination attempt on Gul Dukat, who was at that time the Prefect of Terok Nor. Undetectable by Cardassian sensors, the bomb had a three-minute timer which could not be disarmed. When detonated, the explosion had a radius of twenty meters. Dukat's quarters were destroyed and two Cardassian guards were killed, but Dukat and his comfort woman Kira Meru escaped in time. ()
Kira Nerys wore an earring, which was made for her by Lupaza using diamide-laced beritium salvaged from a Cardassian skimmer ambushed by the Shakaar resistance cell. ()
A Bajoran earring was among the items stolen by a Dopterian in Quark's in 2369. ()
Quark wore an extra large Bajoran earring during the Bajoran Gratitude Festival when he was selling latinum plated scroll inscription pens. Some Ferengi waiters had oversized earrings for the occasion. () 
Rom too wore an extra large Bajoran earring, big enough to fit his Ferengi ear lobe, in the run-up to his marriage to Bajoran Dabo girl Leeta. ()
In 2401, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard noticed that Commander Ro Laren no longer wore her Bajoran earring. Picard recalled that Laren wore the earring when she first boarded the and he'd allowed it despite the earring violating the uniform dress code because Laren claimed that it represented the family that she'd lost. Picard subsequently came to the conclusion that the earring was actually for her ego rather than her honor. Laren later gave her earring Picard shortly before her assassination by Changelings. Picard was confused by this, but Captain William Riker recognized it as "old-school spycraft." The earring secretly housed a data chip containing all the information she had collected on the Changeling infiltration of Starfleet. ()
==Customs==
The earring was usually worn on the right ear, though some Bajorans wore it on the left. Each person's earring was individualized and bore the symbol of their family. Prior to the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor, these earrings also indicated a person's D'jarra, or social caste. (; ) 
Bajoran women received new earrings from their fiancés as engagement gifts, similar to the Human engagement ring. ()
===Cult of the Pah-wraiths===
Members of the Cult of the Pah-wraiths wore red earrings on the left ear instead of the right, perhaps symbolizing the Pah-wraiths' opposition to the Prophets. Dukat also wore such an earring when he temporarily became leader of the Cult in 2375. ()
When Kai Winn Adami received her second vision from the Pah-wraiths later that year, in which they informed her of their true nature, the Pah-wraith that had taken on Sisko's form handed her an earring of the Cult of the Pah-wraiths. ()
===Starfleet policy===
The wearing of Bajoran earrings was generally against Starfleet uniform code. A special exception was made for Ro Laren by Captain Picard when he recruited her to serve aboard the in 2368. () Recalling this in 2401, Picard mentioned that while he had allowed it because Laren claimed that the earring represented her lost family, he subsequently came to the conclusion that it was actually for Laren's ego, not her honor. ()
Tuvok ordered Gerron to remove his earring when the former Maquis member was being trained to participate as a Starfleet officer in 2371. () 
When Kira Nerys was given a temporary Starfleet commission of Commander in 2375 she continued to wear her earring while in Starfleet uniform. ()
== External link ==
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Category:Bajor
Category:Clothing accessories