Klingon Death Ritual (Hegh'bat) - On the sci-fi adventure STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION/SYN/1987-94 the Klingon warrior race have rituals that complement situations dealing with death. When Klingon warrior Worf (Michael Dorn) received a severe spinal injury in 2368 episode No. 116 "Ethics," he tried to perform the Hegh'bat ceremony (translation: "The Time to Die") to end his life and thus die with honor (since he could not longer stand and face his enemies as a warrior should). The ceremony required a trusted friend to impale the victim in the chest with a knife ("d'k tahg"), remove it and then wipe the bloodied blade on his sleeve. At the last minute Worf chose to live and undergo a radical and dangerous genetronic replication therapy. Generally, when a Klingon warrior is killed in combat, the eye lids of the fallen warrior are pried open by his comrades who then howl to the heavens to warn the afterlife that soon a Klingon warrior will arrive. (first seen on episode No. 20 "Heart of Glory"). The body of a dead Klingon was simply discarded, for the force that made it special was gone. In the spirit of the Klingon's fascination with death, all Warriors use the refrain "May you die well!" as they depart from one another. In a related ritual on the episode No. 96 "Half a Life" the people of the planet Kaelon II ended their lives at the age of sixty, whether they liked it or not. Practiced for a millennium, the cultural suicide helped preserve planetary resources and thus enhance the cultural life of its people. Before killing themselves, the targeted Kaelon, gathered with friends and relatives to reminisce over old times.