Bajoran

The Bajorans, or Bajora, were a humanoid species native to the planet Bajor in the Alpha Quadrant. The Bajorans had one of the oldest and richest cultures in the quadrant, though in the 24th century, they suffered greatly at the hands of the Cardassian Union. With their liberation from the Cardassians and the discovery of the Bajoran wormhole in 2369, the Bajorans were thrust onto the interstellar stage.
== Physiology ==
Bajorans resembled Humans in appearance. They were distinguished by a series of four to seven horizontal creases across their noses. Males also had ridges on their reproductive organs.
Bajoran blood was red in color, indicating a iron-base.
Bajoran skin colors could range from light-to-dark variation, similar to Humans.
Bajoran women gestated for only five months, forming an intricate network of blood vessels between the mother and the fetus. During the pregnancy, Bajoran women were frequently afflicted by bouts of uncontrollable sneezing, roughly analogous to Human women experiencing morning sickness during pregnancy. During labor, the focus was on keeping the woman relaxed. 
Bajoran hearts and spines differ from humans in afew key ways that aren't entirely clear. When Sisko calls Dr. Bashir to Holosuite 4 to investigate the murder of Ibudan, the Doctor notes that that the killer must have a decent knowledge of Bajoran anatomy, he explains that "the knife was thrust between the right and left thoracic vertebrae perforating the lower ventricle of the heart." This suggests that Bajorans may have 2 spines that run parallel to one another. Alternatively they could have one spine with bilateral vertebrae that mirror left and right, up the sagittal plane in the thorax which could offer increased articulation of the T-spine and ribs with the sacrifice of stability. Their hearts have an upper and lower ventricle (perhaps indicating that they also have an upper and lower atrium.)
The Bajoran heart internal arrangement was on a horizontal axis. A puncturing of the lower ventricle would led to instant death.
== History ==
Main article: Bajoran history
=== Ancient Bajorans ===
In the 24th century, the ancient Bajoran civilization stretched back more than half a million years. The ancient Bajorans were renowned for their accomplishments in science, mathematics, philosophy, and the arts. The greatest of these early Bajoran civilizations was the First Republic, which flourished between 20,000 and 25,000 years ago. During this time, magnificent cities such as B'hala were built.
The next great phase of Bajoran civilization began approximately 10,000 years ago, when the first of the Tears of the Prophets was discovered above Bajor. These artifacts ushered in a new era of spiritual connection with the Bajoran gods, the Prophets.
By the 16th century, the Bajorans had developed sublight space travel and were exploring their home star system with solar-sail spacecraft. Some Bajoran explorers even reached the Cardassian system, several light years away, sailing at warp speed in tachyon eddies.
As late at the 22nd century, Bajorans followed a strict system of castes, known as D'jarras. This period came to an end with the annexation of Bajor by Cardassia, sometime before 2319.
=== Cardassian Occupation ===
The Occupation of Bajor (usually simply referred to by the Bajorans as the Occupation) was a period from 2328 to 2369, during which the Bajoran homeworld of Bajor was under the control of the Cardassian Union. During the Occupation, the Cardassians perpetrated a coordinated scheme of strip-mining, forced labor, and genocide across the planet. The Occupation gave rise to the fierce Bajoran Resistance, which used guerrilla and terror tactics to eventually force the Cardassians to withdraw. Many Bajorans also fled the Occupation and settled on planets all over the known galaxy. Almost everywhere, they remained separated from other peoples, living under the poorest circumstances, in refugee camps like those on Valo II.
=== Independent Bajor ===
In 2369, after forty years of terrorism by the Resistance, the Cardassians finally withdrew from Bajor. As the Occupation had left Bajor devastated and politically fragile, the newly formed Provisional Government requested Federation support. Starfleet established joint administration with the Bajoran Militia over the former Cardassian space station Terok Nor, which was renamed Deep Space 9. Bajor also applied for Federation membership, which was accepted five years later, in 2373. However, the Chamber of Ministers voted to defer membership after the Emissary Benjamin Sisko warned that Bajor would be destroyed, unless it stood alone. The Federation remained hopeful that Bajor would one day join.
Prior to the beginning of the Dominion War in 2373, Bajor signed a nonaggression pact with the Dominion on Sisko's recommendation, choosing to remain neutral. This saved Bajor from coming under the rule of another foreign power when the Dominion captured Deep Space 9, later in the year. Bajor finally joined the fight against the Dominion in 2374, after the Allies recaptured Deep Space 9 in Operation Return. The Bajorans continued to fight against the Dominion until 2375, when the Treaty of Bajor was signed on Deep Space 9. Following the war, Bajor resumed its attempts to become a member of the United Federation of Planets.
=== Federation membership ===
In 2393, Bajor, along with Tamaria, joined the Federation.
== Government ==
Following the Cardassian withdrawal from Bajor, the Bajoran Republic was set up to administer the planet and its various colonies. Bajoran politics is balanced between the secular Chamber of Ministers, led by the First Minister, and the religious Vedek Assembly, led by the kai. It is possible for one individual to be both the kai and the first minister simultaneously, as Winn Adami was for several weeks in 2371. 
== Religion and spirituality ==
Bajorans had a deeply spiritual society, and the Bajoran religion was a major unifying force on the planet; the spiritual leader, or kai, wielded a great deal of moral and political authority, advising and influencing the planet's political leader, the First Minister. The kai was chosen from a council of vedeks, the title given to Bajoran religious leaders. Other religious titles were ranjen and prylar. Male and female Bajorans were equally capable of achieving any level within the religious structure, including kai, and outside their religious duties, were free to have intimate relationships, including marriage and having children, like any other Bajoran. The Bajoran religion was based upon the revelations of the Prophets, who came to be known as timeless beings residing in the Bajoran wormhole, or as it was called by the Bajorans, the Celestial Temple. Since Starfleet officer Benjamin Sisko was the first to make contact with them, he was acclaimed by the Bajoran spiritual leadership as the Emissary of the Prophets. Part of the Bajoran religion involved the use of the Tears of the Prophets, reality-distorting energy orbs produced by the Prophets. Several of these were stolen by the Cardassians during the Occupation, though a number were recovered.
Most Bajorans believe that they possess a lifeforce known as a Pagh with some believing that those who follow the paths dictated in the Sacred Texts will possess pure pagh. In contrast, those who turn away from the Prophets and live selfish lives have their pagh become dark as well as corrupt. Its known that some Bajoran mystics are capable of sensing the pagh of a person by close contact with the person.
Certain fringe groups began to develop such as the Ohalavaru who did not believe that the Prophets were not gods but in fact aliens who served as teachers. This group would be considered heretics by the majority of orthodox Bajoran believers.
Even more heretical groups consisted of the Cult of the Pah-wraiths who were considered followers of evil gods that would destroy Bajor. These followers themselves were divided in their worship between the Pah-wraiths of Jalbador and the Pah-wraiths of the Fire Caves.
== Culture and society ==
Bajoran culture and customs were closely tied with Bajor's religious beliefs.
=== Names ===
Bajoran custom placed the surname (or family name) before the given name. Therefore, Major Kira Nerys would have been addressed as Major Kira. Bajorans considered it an honor for off-worlders to address them with the proper use of their names. Despite this, many Bajorans had accepted the distortion of their names in order to assimilate with other cultures, prior to the end of the Ocupation. 
=== Childbirth ===
The traditional Bajoran birthing ceremony was attended by the woman's family and a midwife. The objective of the ritual was to induce complete relaxation through a combination of breathing exercises, rhythmic percussion music, and incense, allowing the woman to give birth without pain. However, the birth needed to take place in a certain period of time, or the level of endorphins within the mother's system would build to toxic levels.
When the child was born, he or she was greeted with the following words: "Awake, child; we await you with love and welcome you into the world."Bajoran women were able to have their labor induced or deliver their children through c-section.
=== Funerary customs ===
The Bajorans generally buried their deceased in graves marked with a decorated arch. Bajoran funeral rites could be quite elaborate; for example, the Bajoran death chant was over two hours long. However, the preservation of the body itself was not of particular significance to the Bajorans, who believed that, after death, a person's pagh joined the Prophets in the Celestial Temple, leaving only an empty shell. To mourn the death of a loved one, Bajorans lit duranja lamps.
=== Music ===
Bajor, as an advanced society, was well known for its music both before and after the Occupation. The Jalanda Forum was a popular performance venue. The belaklavion was a Bajoran musical instrument.
=== Holidays and festivals ===
* Days of Atonement
* Gratitude Festival
* Ha'mara
* Bajoran Time of Cleansing
=== Food and beverages ===
* Alvas
* Bajoran shrimp
* Deka tea
* Foraiga
* Groatcake
* Hasperat
* Hasperat souffle
* Jumja stick
* Jumja tea
* Kava
* Kava juice
* Katterpod
* Klavaatu
* Larish pie
* Mapa bread
* Moba fruit
* Palukoo
* Springwine
* Synthale or Bajoran ale
** Voodai
* Tuwaly pie
* Veklava