days they visit the groom's home. Other than the youngest daughter, all other daughters have to build their homes after marriage, though they do get a share of the ancestral property.
The youngest daughter of the family is the keeper and not the inheritor of ancestral property. She has the responsibility to manage the ancestral property and assist any family member who is in need.
At the demise of any family member, the corpse is usually kept unburied for three days during which family and friends come to share the grief. It is at this time where the members of the locality also partake in the cremation or burial of the body. This is the social responsibility of the locality, and they are usually repaid by food and drink. If a man or woman has lived to an old age, there is usually a feast during his/her home going to celebrate a life lived to the fullest.
Local governance lies entirely with the local dorbar or local assembly comprising of male members of the locality. However the trend has been changing lately wherein women also participate depending on the jurisdiction of the locality. It is in this assembly that most decisions of the locality are taken.
A celebration of thanksgiving is common among the tribals of the world. In Shillong there are many thanksgiving festivities celebrated. Among the Khasi tribe is the "Shad Suk Mynsiem" or the harvest dance celebrated for three consecutive days where young girls and men attired in silver and gold ornaments dance in thanksgiving to God for the spring harvest. Among the Jaintia tribe, the "Behdiengkhlam" festival is celebrated to drive away the plague or bad luck from the land. Among the Garos, the "Wangala dance" or the festival of a hundred drums performed by ten contingents of ten drummers each drumming on oval elongated drums as a thanksgiving dance during the autumn harvest is celebrated.
Christmas and New
