HISTORY

Quotation :

« These people regularly chew a fruit they call areca, which looks like a pear. They cut it into four parts and each part is wrapped in a leaf from a tree called « bettre » very similar to a laurel leaf. They stick this in their mouth and after having duly masticated it, they spit it out, their mouth becomes completely red. All these people take this fruit in order to lift up their spirits. If they didn’t they would die ».

When Antonio Pigafetta in 1521 thus described the custom of the betel quid, he thought he was pointing out a peculiarity specific to a certain region of the Philippines, the island he calls « Messana ». He gave it considerable importance, by saying that, if deprived of their drug, all that would be left for the chewers would be to die. In fact this 16th Century explorer defined in a few lines a habit common to more than 200 million human beings spread over India, China, from Zanzibar to Oceania.

Origins :

In reality, this habit is linked to various orders of activities and to various trends : a habit inherited from the ancients, influenced by social class, which became a subconscious necessity to induce excitment to help these countries with a depressive climate, sharing beliefs and customs of the group. But the betel quid has a primary role in social relations, in public and private ceremonials for people taking it. Furthermore, the betel custom relates to a specific cultural area, a characteristic link for some civilizations.

Geographical distribution :

There is no research document about the betel which gives a general view of its geographical distribution, its culture, use, specific utensils elaborated for its use and beliefs linked to it. The betel has its own very particular constituents. Its use extends from Ceylon to Indochina and New Guinea, thus covering southern India, Indonesia, Malaya and part of Melanesia. It consists of chewing slices of areca nut with a little lime wrapped up in betel leaves. Nuts are cut up with a special knife and the lime is taken out from a box with the help of a spatula.

It must be acknowledged however that the geographical indications regarding the distribution of the betel are not very precise. It is thus inadequate to say that its use extends from Ceylon to New Guinea. Betel is chewed in fact in north India, in Nepal and in northerner borders of the Indochinese peninsula. We know definitely that the areca nut came from the Indochinese peninsula into China and its chinese name has of course been taken from a very close form of the Malayan « pinang ». But it is interesting to note that the chinese have adopted it to the point of giving it a local significance and identifying it to pinlang « Mr the Host ».

In the TAMBOOL tradition ( betel leaves)

The Indian fabric is so intricately woven with fine threads of religion and mythology, that it is difficult to determine where a social custom ends and a religious rite begins, in day to day life. Meshed within this network is the colourful tradition of the Tambool (betel leaf) which amongst other things represents the basic effervescence that characterizes Indian lifestyle as being so different from others.

If Tambool (betel) chewing or « paan » reminds us nauseating sputum stains that decorate the walls today, it also evokes memories of the grandiose lifestyle of nawabs and rajahs of yesteryear.

Betel boxes, areca nutcutters, mortars and betel sets represented on this site give us mute testimony of an era bygone. This collection mirrors a life once well lived. Look into it and your own reflection will mingle with the past and you will begin to appreciate a tradition not only because it is there, but because it is beautiful too.

Legendary traditions :

According to mythology, Mohini distributed Amrut (ambrosia) amongst various gods. The urn with the remaining of the Amrut was kept near Indra’s elephant « Nagraja ». Growing inside the urn was a strange creeping plant and the gods became ecstatic. Vishnu ordered Dhanvantari to examine the plant. He thus discovered its stimulating quality. From then on, Vishnu began to offer its leaves, as a gesture of love and affection. Since, it is said , that the betel trine was born. It began to be associated with the Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh Trinity. The areca nut was attributed to Brahma, the Tambool (betel) leaf to Vishnu and lime to Mahesh.

According to another legend, after the Pandavas’ victory at Hastinapur, they began to have a fervent desire for Tambool. A messenger was urgently sent to the underground abode of the Queen of the snakes. The Queen, only too happy to oblige, cut the extreme phalange of her little finger and sent it to the Pandavas. The phalange was planted with great ceremony and soon the Betel plant grew out of the phalange. The creeper is since then referred to as « Nagveli » the snake plant. The ceremony of the leaves commemorates this origin and the Barais offer prayers to the God of snakes on the occasion.

Historic India :

The date of the arrival of Tambool in India is not known, but historical records trace its origin to the Gupta period (320-467 A.D.) Later Someswara, a Chaluka God of the 6th Century, was described in Manasollasa - a text on royal life, which refers to the betel quid, as one of eight royal enjoyments.

The Chandel Rajputs in the 8th Century invited the tambolis of Rajasthan to cultivate this fragile creeper in Mahoba, their political capital. The « Alpha Khand » an epic by Jagnik has represented Tambool as a symbol of the Rajput rules of behaviour.

Marco Polo was the first European who made note of « this habit followed by an entire population who perpetually chew a leaf called Tambool. » This deeply rooted habit had already extended to East Africa, the Fidji islands, India, Indonesia, China, Malaya, the Philippines, Borneo, New Guinea and the adjoining islands, long before the arrival of the English explorers.

Social signification :

Tambool does in fact have an affiliation with almost every Indian relationships. Between the human and God, the Host and the Guest, the Guru and the disciple, the man and the woman and the god and his subjects. Therefore it is appropriate that it holds a place of honour in family events, starting with birth, thread ceremonies, weddings, to funerals.

« Inspired Creations », by D.G. Kelkar (to whom we owe all our new information) :

The fragrance of the Tambool quid pervades splendid palaces. The folded quid, held together by a clove covered with gold dust needs a silver plate to compliment it. The areca nut is a hard nut to crack. Jingling bells on the nut-cutter entices the nut. Nimble fingers pick and choose the spices fit for the occasion from delicately carved caches. And the leaf hides its innocence in filigreed boxes. Such is the strange aura of the Tambool culture. Much like the eyes of a beautiful woman behind a misty fine veil.

TODAY....

The Betel is a real nuisance in Asia (especially in Taiwan¨). This sort of chewing-gum made of areca nut, tobacco and betel leaf, leaves a black layer on teeth, due to the polyphenol in the areca nut and the betel leaf. In the last century the English had already brought a tooth-paste onto the market. The all day long chewing gives workers a feeling of well-being like a drug, providing a degree of excitment and taking their hunger away. The chewing makes them spit a reddish juice which explains the numerous red spots on the ground and on the edifices.

In Thaïland, in the markets, the principal components necessary to make a Betel quid are sold, and even ready made quids are sold in wrapers, some of them similar to a cigarette.

In Taïpei in Taiwan, scantily clad young girls sell Betel to a male clientele.

According to a study undertaken in Taïpei in november 2000, 600.000 betel nuts or quids had been sold !!!

The modest betel is playing an important role in the Taïwanese culture.

From stalls at the side of roads where one can buy a green nut, sometimes called in English « the taïwanese chewing-gum », to films, television shows, exhibitions of photographs in museums showing young women called « betel beauties », who earn their living by selling this popular stimulant throughout the island, the modest betel plays a great role in the daily Taïwan culture.

A recent film called « Betelnut Beauty » by the Taïwanese producer Lin Cheng-Sheng, and which has been awarded a cinematographic prize, follows the wandering of a young betel saleswoman of modern times. She is one of these « beauties » who earn 40.000 to 100.000 T.W.D. (approx.1 270 to 3 180 Euros) per month by offering this stimulant.

In Chiayi, a town to the south of the island, a popular cinema hall is even distributing small plastic bags to clients who are consumers of betel, enabling them to spit out the juice formed during mastication. And throughout the island, to the great dismay of these who run the towns and those who dwell in them, red spots left on the ground or elsewhere by the juice spitted can be seen here and there and nearly everywhere.

It is not always a pleasant scene, even though young betel saleswomen have so well adapted themselves to this popular insular culture, that they now form an integral part of it, in spite of the violent verbal attacks which, from time to time, denounce their methods of sale in papers or on television.

When the Lin Cheng-Sheng film appeared early this year in Europe, in Japan and Taïwan critics gave it a good review. On the island, one of them, described it as « a delicious cross section of life which has very cleverly succeeded in catching the quintescence of the anxiety of the young Taïwanese », pointing out that the title of the film is quite appropriately making reference « to the local colour of modest rank young ladies dressed in clothes enhancing their charms, approaching passersby in order to sell their goods ».

The heroin of the movie is a young Taïpeian girl called Fei-fei who is selling betel, sitting in a neon illuminated window at the side of the road. She has at first been noticed by a producer and later on by a talent seeker for a records’ firm, looking for new faces.

The English community of Taïpei, very much interested by the Lin Chen-Sheng movie, has been able to see « Betelnut Beauty » subtitled in English thanks to special projectors organized by the town.

However, aside from its artistic success throughout the world, the omnipresent betel has caused great damage in the island. According to a message from the Associated Press Agency of Taïpei (AP), the olive size fruit is to be blamed « for torrents of mud and sudden floodings » suffered by the island during typhoons and storms, thus resulting in heavy loss of life.

Numerous areas struck by the Toraji Typhoon, (in august 2001) had a similar story : Ranges of majestic areca trees, with big clusters of nuts, grew high on the mountains « reported the same AP message, pointing out « that when earthquakes or typhoons shake the mountains (here), these trees having too short roots to withhold the rocks or the earth, could not prevent the falls and flows to rush down on houses below ».

And typhoon after typhoon, there is chaos, death and destruction. Nevertheless, the little areca nuts and betel leaf representing the popular stimulant, are still chewed and continue to play an integral part in the Taïwanese modern culture. Of course important interests are at stake A huge economic sector has grown throughout the island thanks to this product, giving work to thousands of country people who grow, gather, transport and sell the areca nut.

According to domestic economists, the areca nut has become the second largest agricultural product for sale after rice. It has become a very attractive way of expanding certain mountain farmers’ bank balances.

Whilst in villages numerous old people try to survive by selling areca nuts, betel « gods » invented some years ago a fashionable plan to improve sales, proposing that pretty young ladies, often scantily and attractively dressed, be engaged to sell the goods in stands located on road sides. This proposal was so successful that it forms today part of the urban and rural landscape of the island.

Politicians have also tried to denounce this industry. More precisely, they have tried to speak loud and clear, in order to persuade mountain agriculturists to change their culture and abandon the little areca nut which produces such high income.

« I have asked the population to stop the growing of areca trees. It is not good for us », has declared Mrs Annette Lu, Vice-President of the Republic to journalists, having discovered the damages caused by the Toraji Typhoon, more than 200 deaths and considerable financial loss in agriculture.

According to sociologists and other experts who have studied the problem, all the industry which has developed around betel is there to remain. The main reason is that betel has become popular as a legal stimulant for long distance lorry drivers, building workers, persons having small revenue, to gangsters, and to the young generation who use betel as a type of drug. It is not caffeine nor tobacco or beer, betel is a fortifier and this is why it attracts, explain those who use it.

Almost one person out of ten is a betel chewer. What taste has this betel that is so popular in other asiatic countries, like Thaïland or Viet-nam (however not in Japan, nor in the Philippines) ? « A cheap tooth-paste like liquorice », has recently declared a westerner who works on the island.

Betel is sold in boxes of five to ten fruits. Depending upon quality, a box costs 50 TWD (approx.1,6 Euros) or more. « Agriculturists prefer to grow areca trees because they produce fruits within five years and require little care or fertilizers » adds the AP message.

Although the State has offered financial inducement to agriculturists to adopt another culture, areca trees represent more than 55% of their land area, and the problem is that the areca nut gives much better profit, and furthermore, it is not easy to change one’s habit. According to official statistics, Taïwan produces about 500.000 tons of areca nuts every year, a value estimated to nearly 400 millions TWD (approx. 12,7 million euros).

From cinema to museum exhibitions, from bright stands on road sides to television soap-opera, the picture of « betel beauties » and the part they play in the ever growing popular culture, are here to stay, whether critics wish it or not.

Dan Bloom,

* The betel is a kind of creeper of the pepper family, the leaf of which has stimulating and astringent properties. It is used to wrap up the areca nut, from which the « Kashu » and other ingredients are drawn. Also called in french « betel » it is a popular chewing-gum widely used in Asia. The betel nut, like some writers call it, probably misled by the anglo-american term « betel nut », does not exist .