Garo Hills · Northeast Hill Massif
Garo dress is woven narrow and worn wrapped. The everyday garment is a length of cloth tied at the waist; the formal one is the same construction in better cotton with a patterned border. What marks rank and occasion is not cut but ornament — brass and bead necklaces, feathered headgear, and the nokma's ceremonial cloth — and the heaviest of it comes out only for Wangala and for clan occasions.
What is worn
An ankle-length wraparound skirt woven on a loin or frame loom, traditionally from khidig, a long-staple local cotton, with a patterned band running along the lower edge. It is the defining Garo garment and was granted a geographical indication in 2024 as the Meghalaya Garo Textile.
Worn for: Everyday and festival
A longer cloth draped over the shoulder as well as wrapped at the waist, worn on formal occasions. The difference from the dakmanda is in the drape rather than in the weaving.
Worn for: Ceremonial
The ceremonial cloth of the nokma, worn with the drums and the ornament that mark the office. It is the one garment in the repertoire that indicates status directly.
Worn for: Wangala and clan ceremony
A narrow strip of cloth worn around the waist and between the legs. Now largely confined to dance and to Wangala, but it is what the older photographic record shows.
Worn for: Everyday, historically
A cloth band tied around the head, dressed for dance with feathers — do'kru and do'me plumes on the men's headgear — and with a beaded band, pilne, for the women.
Worn for: Wangala and dance
Weaves and textiles
Handwoven wrap cloth in cotton, with the pattern concentrated in a band along one edge. Granted a geographical indication in 2024, alongside Lakadong turmeric, Lyrnai pottery and Garo chubitchi.
The heavier and more elaborately bordered end of the same loom tradition, made for weddings, Wangala and clan occasions.
Jewellery
Traditional dress of Garo Hills — garments, handloom weaves, GI-tagged textiles and jewellery. (7)