One of the oldest surviving Vulcan traditions is the bonding of children when they are at least seven years old. Although the vast majority of Vulcans were bonded this way in the past, more and more families in modern times are chosing to forego this tradition and let their children bond with a person of their choice as adults. It is predicted that the child bonding tradition may completely disappear in less than two hundred years on T'Khasi.
Traditionally, families would bond their male child to the female child of another clan for political or prestige reasons. In more recent times, it became more common for childhood friends, classmates or coworkers to discuss the prospects of bonding their compatible children. Of course, in a perfect world, it would always be possible to match your child with another child of the same age. This is not always the case. It is not at all rare for the family of the male child to delay bonding their son until the intended female child reaches the age of seven. Thus, although most Vulcan couples that bonded as children are the same age, it is entirely possible to find a gap in age of perhaps two or three years.
The ceremony is conducted by a Vulcan master at the male child's clan ceremonial site. Below you will find an example of the child bonding ceremony. We will use the example of a male child named Stola and a female child named T'Lita.
Most adult Vulcans are satisfied with achieving Venlinahr, the normal state of adult discipline, which most have little difficulty achieving. Roughly 10% of adult Vulcans, though, choose to undergo the rigorous and often long training process called Kolinahr, which leads to the suppression of all emotions and the embracement of total logic. Not all who begin the Kolinahr training will finish it, due to many factors and all the disciplines that must be mastered. Each student's training is supervised directly by one of the head acolytes at Gol and periodically monitored by the High Master herself.
The actual training has no strict time-frame and is customized with regards to the strengths and weaknesses of each student. More than one person has completed Kolinahr in less than a year, but it is most common for someone to spend approximately two to three years in training, at a minimum, to achieve Kolinahr. At the completion of the training, the High Master herself will conduct the traditional completion ceremony. She will mind-meld with the student to verify that Kolinahr has, in fact, been achieved. If successful, the student will be presented with a symbol of total logic to wear around the neck on traditional occasions. The symbol is partially designed by the student during training, so the symbol is unique for each person. This is logical, since all people are unique.
Below you will find an example of the traditional closing ceremony between the High Master and Student at the end of successful Kolinahr training in both Traditional Golic Vulcan and Federation Standard English. The current High Master of Gol is T'Sai and she uses a less "old-fashioned" type of speech than her predecessors. We will use the example of a student named Sovuk here. The acolyte is the one who supervised that person's training.
Upon the reaching of pon farr (mating time), male Vulcans begin to experience progressively more serious biochemical changes, ultimately leading to plak-tau (blood fever) which necessitates that they complete the kun-ut kali-fi or suffer madness and death. The onset of pon farr varies from individual to individual and depends on many factors, including genetics, environment, diet, and mental discipline. If the Vulcan is on-planet, they immediately will return to their traditional family lands. If the Vulcan is off-planet, they must make arrangements to return to Vulcan as quickly as possible.
If the Vulcan is bonded, his intended will know through their link that pon farr has arrived. The changes in the male will trigger biochemical changes in his female counterpart, regardless of the distance involved. The female will inform her clan matriarch of the arrival of pon farr, who will in turn inform the clan matriarch of the male's family. The male's family will arrange for the kun-ut kali-fi ceremony to take place at the clan's traditional place.
If the Vulcan is unbonded when pon farr arrives and he is not under the control of the plak-tau, his family will make arrangements for several satisfactory potential mates to be available for his chosing. He will make his own selection based on a logical weighing of the qualities of the potential mates. This is known as telsu dvelan (bondmate selection). If the unbonded Vulcan is under the control of the plak-tau, his family will either select a suitable mate for him (the most common option) or hold a modified version of the kun-ut kali-fi, known as the ko-telsu kali-fi (wife challege), where interested females fight for the privilege to be bonded with the male. They do not necessarily fight to the death. Once a female has been selected, the usual kun-ut kali-fi takes place.
Below you will find an example of the ritual communication between two Vulcans who were bonded as children and are making their first contact as adults prior to the kun-ut kali-fi ceremony, as well as two examples of the kun-ut kali-fi ceremony, in both Traditional Golic Vulcan and Federation Standard English. The first example is without a challenge, the second where a challenge is given. For the "with challenge" example, we have chosen a case where the female intended has declared "kali-fi". Although not detailed here, it is also possible for another adult male present to declare his desire for the female and call for "kali-fi", although that is seldom seen. A version of the ko-telsu kali-fi may also occur, where another female present will issue a challenge against the intended female and will fight for the male.
Vulcan youth who have been declared continually and unrepentantly "over-emotional" by their families and/or teachers are usually sent to a Vulcan Master for rigorous mental training. This usually occurs after the youth is expelled from classes and/or banished from their families after a number of "emotional" incidents and/or a clear pattern of behavior is observed. Although youths who require additional mental discipline training beyond what is normally provided to all young Vulcans are not common, they are not rare either. This is due to the nature of being a Vulcan. The Nath-Pal-Nahr is considered the last chance for a young person to gain control over emotions and be welcomed in normal Vulcan society. Although the training is usually conducted by one of the Vulcan masters at Mount Seleya or even Gol, any qualified master may conduct the training. Normally the parents of the youth will select a master known to them personally or perhaps who is a member of the same clan. Failure to accept or finish the Nath-Pal-Nahr will invariably lead to being declared "vrekasht" (outcast).
Below you will find an example of the simple traditional closing exchange between Master and Student at the end of successful Nath-Pal-Nahr training in both Traditional Golic Vulcan and Federation Standard English. Elements of this may be slightly altered to customize the exchange depending on the type(s) of emotion(s) that lead to the training. Successful conclusion of this training leads, in nearly all cases, to being welcomed back into one's family and regaining one's seat in school.