DOMESTIC LIFE OF GARO - DRESS

The Garo dress is simple. The man's attire consists of a loin cloth, six or seven feet long and about six inches wide. A blouse is sometimes worn to cover the upper part of the body but more commonly it is left bare except in winter when it is covered with a wrapper of blue cotton cloth. A turban, which is generally worn, goes round leaving the top of the head bare. The woman's attire is similar—a cloth about a foot and half long and about a foot wide round the waist, sometimes a blouse or a wrapper and a turban, but except during the cold weather the upper part of the body is not encumbered by any covering.

Such exposure, especially on the part of buxom young females, gives to outsiders (particularly young people) at first sight a funny sensation. The loin cloths are some times ornamented with beads or cowries. Both men and women are very fond of ear-rings, the women wearing up to fifty of them, the weight of which distend the ear-lobes, sometimes splitting them in two. On festive occasions and when dancing, both men and women ornament their head-dress with rows of beads and stick to them feathers of the bhimraj (horn-bill). Brass or silver bangles are popular with men as well as women. Important persons like nokmas (headmen of villages or clans) wear a heavy ring of iron above the elbow, which is called jaksil. A belt covered with beads completes the attire. The men are often seen carrying weapons—spears or swords.