The people
Meghalaya is the homeland mainly of the Khasis, the Jaintias and the Garos. The Garos inhabit western Meghalaya, the Khasis in central Meghalaya, and the Jaintias in eastern Meghalaya. The Khasi predominantly inhabit the districts east of Meghalaya, also known to be one of the earliest ethnic group of settlers in the Indian sub-continent, belonging to the Proto Austroloid Monkhmer race. The Garo Hills is predominantly inhabited by the Garos, belonging to the Bodo family of the Tibeto-Burman race, said to have migrated from Tibet.

The Khasi-and Jaintia(Pnars)
The Khasis inhabit the eastern part of Meghalaya, in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills. Khasis residing in Jaintia hills are now better known as Jaintias. They are also called Pnars. The Khasis occupying the northern lowlands and foothills are generally called Bhois. Those who live in the southern tracts are termed Wars.

Again among the Wars, those living in the Khasi hills are called War-Khasis and those in the Jaintia hills, War-Pnars or War-Jaintias. In the Jaintia Hills we have Khyrwangs, Labangs, Nangphylluts, Nangtungs in the northeastern part. In the Khasi hills the Lyngngams live in the northwestern part. But all of them claim to have descended from the ‘Ki Hynniew Trep‘ and are now known by the generic name of Khasi-Pnars or simply Khasis. They have the same traditions, customs and usage with a little variation owing to geographical divisions.

Dress:
The traditional Khasi male dress is ‘Jymphong‘ or a longish sleeveless coat without collar, fastened by thongs in front. Now, the Khasis have adopted the western dress. On ceremonial occasions, they appear in ‘Jymphong‘ and dhoti with an ornamental waistband.

The Khasi traditional female dress is rather elaborate with several pieces of cloth, giving the body a cylindrical shape. On ceremonial occasions, they wear a crown of silver or gold on the head. A spike or peak is fixed to the back of the crown, corresponding to the feathers worn by the men folk.

Food & Drinks:
The staple food of Khasis is rice. They also take fish and meat. Like the other tribes in the NorthEast, the Khasis also ferment rice-beer, and make spirit out of rice or millets by distillation. Use of rice-beer is a must for every ceremonial and religious occasion.

Social Structure:
The Khasis, the Jaintias and the Garos have a matrilineal society. Descent is traced through the mother, but the father plays an important role in the material and mental life of the family. While, writing on the Khasi and the Jaintia people, David Roy observed, ‘a man is the defender of the woman, but the woman is the keeper of his trust‘. No better description of Meghalayan matrilineal society could perhaps be possible.

In the Khasi society, the woman looks after home and hearth, the man finds the means to support the family, and the maternal uncle settles all social and religious matters. Earlier in the conservative Jaintia non-Christian families, however, the father only visits the family in the night and is not responsible for the maintenance of the family.

Majority of the Khasis, (the dominant tribe) are archers, though agriculture is the main occupation. Crops include rice, millet, corn (maize), pepper, potatoes, chilies, cotton, ginger, betel nuts, oranges, mangoes, bananas, pineapples, and numerous varieties of vegetables. Forests are the source of commercial wood; teak, bamboo and cane.

Inheritance:
Khasis follow a matrilineal system of inheritance. In the Khasi society, it is only the youngest daughter or ‘Ka Khadduh‘ who is eligible to inherit the ancestral property. In short, property and wealth are passed through the female rather than the male line.

If ‘Ka Khadduh‘ dies without any daughter surviving her, her next elder sister inherits the ancestral property, and after her, the youngest daughter of that sister. Failing all daughters and their female issues, the property goes back to the mother‘s sister, mother‘s sister‘s daughter and so on. The Ka Khadduh‘s property is actually the ancestral property and so if she wants to dispose it off, she must obtain consent and approval of the uncles and brothers.

Among the War-Khasis, however property passes to the children, male or female, in equal shares but among the War-Jaintias, only the female children get the inheritance.

Marriage:
Marriage within a clan is a taboo. Rings or betel-nut bags are exchanged between the bride and the bridegroom to complete the union. In the Christian families, however, marriage is purely a civil contract.

Religion:
The Khasis are now mostly Christians. But before that, they believed in a Supreme Being, The Creator - U Blei Nongthaw and under Him, there were several deities of water and of mountains and also of other natural objects.