[5] Hajong have the status of a Scheduled Tribe in India[6] and they are the fourth largest tribal ethnicity in the Indian state of Meghalaya.

[7] The Hajongs belong to the Bodo-Kachari group of tribes, whose ancestors migrated from Tibet to the Brahmaputra Valley in the ancient past, from where they spread in multiple directions.

[8] The Hajongs have no recorded history and whatever historical references available are in the form of legends, folktales, and traditional beliefs.

The Hajongs believe that their ancestral land was in Hajo area of present-day Kamrup District of Assam.

[11] It is reported that, in 1939, the Hajongs organised a Kshatriya Sanmelan for the welfare of the community and to enforce the observation of their traditions.

At the same time, certain grammatical similarities such as case marking can be found between Hajong and some Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in the same geographic location.

Hajong phonology has an extra vowel /ɯ/ which is not present in other Indo-Aryan languages, but is typical for the Tibeto-Burman family.

[20] For maidens, the knowledge of weaving is considered a prime requisite prior to marriage, but because to Western influences this tradition is not strictly adhered to by unmarried women.

[citation needed] Women of this tribe chiefly wear pathin,[11] a wrap-around skirt that covered the upper and lower part of the body from the bust till the calf of the leg.

The pathin, also called pate or pâthni, consists of two main sets of stripes: the kan and the gao.

Menfolk wear a woven piece of cloth called ningti or bhijâ kapur, it is worn in the fashion of a dhoti.

Other kind of clothes used by the Hajongs are gamsa similar to the Assamese gamosa and pasra, an embroidered light shawl.

The majority of the Hajong ornaments are made of silver; while the use of gold, ivory, coral, and conch shells have been observed too.

Traditionally, all of the extravagant ornaments belonged to the women of this tribe; men were to only wear their wedding rings called manik angthi and a gold chain.

Although men can be seen wearing a red thread on their waist called bâstâ or bâitâ, lugun on their left shoulder, and rosaries made of sandalwood, golden apple and the holy basil.

Married women wear conch shell bangles called haka and the wedding ring, manik angthi.

[note 2] The origin of these clans are traced back to the twelve thousand Hajongs who had crossed the Brahmaputra river and entered Garo Hills from Hajo.

The descendants of these twelve thousand people were divided into six groups under the leadership of six heads: Harang, Bhajalu, Manik, Teper, Satodol, and Manji.

[25] Although, the hajongs were an endogamous tribe, clan exogamy was practised where one wasn't allowed to be wed to someone belonging to the same nikni.

Similarly, a Hajong who could not tell his own nikni was assailed wittingly to be a member of the dove clan hinting indirectly that he had married his own sister.

The inner intention or significance of this was to direct or make each Hajong to be particularly familiar with his own clan so that he could avoid marrying a girl belonging to his own nikni due to his ignorance.

It is noted that members of some of these niknis had developed a feeling of collateral relation with the plants, fruits, insects, etc., that their clans had been named after.

No information is available as to how the Hajongs came under the influence of Hinduism in the long past as no written records exist to this effect.

When intimacy develops between a boy and a girl without the knowledge of their parents, they are married to each other, provided that they do not belong to close maternal and paternal kinship.

Hajong women can be easily identified by their brightly striped red dress called Pathin.

The scenario of having an earthen plinth and two thatched roofs on both sides is common in every Hajong village.

The Hajongs customarily construct four or five houses on the four sides protecting the middle portion of the courtyard.

A typical Hajong household consists of the buildings listed below:[39] The staple food is rice eaten with lentils and vegetables.

In Birapat-chita also called Chan Bila Akawa the Sun, Moon, Stars, birds, boats and palanquins are painted with powdered rice (pithli), vermilion and kohl.

Since every person, both young and old, comes out to watch the play, this is considered a chance to check out prospective brides and grooms.