The Garos are one of the major tribal groups of Meghalaya. They inhabit the Garo hills. They are also found in the neighbouring areas of Assam, Bangladesh and West Bengal. The Garos prefer to call themselves as Mandle or Achik. Linguistically, they belong to the Tibeto Burman family of languages.

A Garo village is composed of several household. Traditional Garo houses are built on hill areas which has provision of water sources nearby. The houses are narrow, double roofed rectangular structure constructed on piles or raised platforms. A Garo house has a common courtyard and the entrance to the house is from there.                

Firstly, the clearing of the plots called as abao's is done by the individual households by cutting down the jungle and leaving it to dry. This is done in the month of December and January.               

Burning of the plots called as abaso's is a community effort. In the month of March and April, villagers work together to burn their fields.          

Sowing of seeds called as bechil sata takes place during the month  of April. They sow different varieties of crop of which rice, maize and millet are the most important.                

The next stage involves the construction of field houses in the jhum fields and is known by the name of nokadal rika. It is used for staying during the weeding season acts as a watch tower for animals which comes to the jhum fields. This also serves as a shelter during rainy season.          

The first weeding session starts from the month of May and June. It is known as a jakra danga.    

In the month of June, maize is harvested and after this the second weeding of unwanted plants is started. It is called as bamil rika. During August millet is harvested.           

The third weeding which is known as diri rata is done during the month of August when due to the monsoon rain, there is growth of weeds.        

Paddy harvesting known as mi aka is done in the month of October. In the same  they throw away the weeds known as sampan gala from the field by uprooting the long weeds with hand so as to enable the plants like brinjal, chilly and cotton to grow properly.        

After harvesting of many crops are over by the month of October, stalks of harvested and unwanted plants are cut down which is known as murad rata.    

In the month of December harvesting of cotton known as kilo ka is done. With this stage of operation the jhum cultivation for the first year comes to an end and the land is again prepared for cultivation in the second year.