Betelnuts: Green Time Capsules of Indigenous Culture

In Taiwan’s indigenous communities, betelnuts (also known as areca nuts because they come from the areca palm, Areca catechu) have a rich variety of cultural meanings. Yang Cheng-hsien, associate professor in the Department of Indigenous Development and Social Work at National Dong Hwa University, who has conducted field research in Aboriginal communities for many years, says this small green fruit is like a “cultural time capsule” in which collective memories are stored.

During the flowering season of areca palms, the tiny tan blossoms fill the air with a mild fragrance.

It’s not about the nuts, but the culture

After the tops are trimmed off the betelnuts, leaves of the betel pepper vine are covered with a thin layer of hydrated lime, folded in half, and formed into a tube shape, after which the nuts are slid into the tubes. In this way, with practiced hands, the woman operator of a betelnut stand wraps one nut after another, duplicating a scene that is part of everyday life in streets across Taiwan. But you might be curious: How long has chewing betelnut been part of human civilization? Archaeologists have discovered from ancient human teeth that people have been chewing this nut for at least 5,000 years.

In Mandarin Chinese, the areca palm and its nuts are known as binlang. Looking at the Chinese characters, 檳榔, we can see that they are both “phono-semantic compound” characters, in which an element hinting at the meaning—in this case mu (木), meaning “tree” or “wood”—is combined with an element indicating the pronunciation: bin (賓, itself meaning “guest”) and lang (朗, “bright”). This is in fact a foreign loan word, coming from the Malay word pinang. While it is difficult to determine the precise place of origin of areca palms, based on documentary evidence they most likely came from the southeast coast of the Asian continent, or from Pacific islands.

The late Lin Fu-shih, a former academician at the Academia Sinica, pioneered research into the history of betelnut in Taiwan. He combed through old books and documents to seek out traces of these little nuts. In his book Red Lips and Black Teeth: A Cultural History of Betelnuts, he noted that there is evidence of betelnuts being brought to China from as early as the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (reigned 141‡87 BCE).

Thereafter, through trade and cultural contacts with peoples around the South Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Chinese steadily acquired greater knowledge of betelnuts, and their medicinal properties were recorded in texts related to medicine and farming. By the fifth or sixth centuries CE, chewing betelnut became a status symbol for the ruling classes in southern regions of China. “Exotic” betelnuts became highly valued and were often given as gifts. Luminaries from Chinese history, including Xuanzang, Han Yu, Su Dongpo, Liu Zongyuan, and Zhu Xi, all shared a fondness for the taste of betelnuts.

In Taiwan, areca palms are not native plants, but their nuts have long been integrated into the lives of ethnic groups on the island. The archive De Dagregisters van het Kasteel Zeelandia, which records Dutch colonial activities in Taiwan 400 years ago, includes many entries about betelnuts. In Fanshe Caifeng Tu, a book of paintings of indigenous peoples’ lifestyles from the mid-18th century, there is an illustration which shows Pingpu (Plains) Aborigines skillfully climbing palm trees to gather coconuts and betelnuts.

Alak Akatuang, owner of the Kabuasua Culture and History Workshop, has for many years devoted himself to a renaissance of the culture of the Siraya indigenous people. He mentions that in the past his people would plant long rows of areca palms to serve as boundaries around fields and homesteads. During the Dutch colonial period, betelnuts were a cash crop, and documentary evidence shows that the Dutch East India Company imported them into Taiwan from China or exported them from Taiwan, depending on seasonal supply and demand.

Studying the history of betelnuts in depth and tracing their cultural pathways leaves one with the feeling that these nuts have an unexpected significance!

In Taiwan it is common to see a row of areca palms marking the boundaries of homesteads and fields.

Humans have been chewing betelnuts for a very long time. Besides their medicinal uses, the nuts have become gift items that people give to each other.

A medicinal plant

People discovered and utilized the medicinal properties of betelnuts very early on. Yang Cheng-hsien says: “Betelnuts must have started out being seen as functional and only later were they assigned cultural meanings.”

Pointing to the story of the Han Chinese pioneers who came to Taiwan back in the day, he says that early immigrants faced a perilous voyage across the Taiwan Strait, followed by the rigors of adapting to local conditions. Taiwan has an island climate with high humidity, and settlers who safely crossed over to Taiwan learned to chew betelnuts from the local Pingpu indigenous peoples. Consuming betelnuts causes one to instantly feel warmer and sweat, making it possible to expel moisture from the body and enabling these migrants to rapidly adapt to the environment. Chewing betelnut was a shortcut that over time developed into a habit or custom.

Even today, betrothal gifts given by the groom’s family to the bride’s family before Han Chinese weddings customarily include a long string of betelnuts. Folk belief has it that they express a hope for many offspring, but Yang Cheng-hsien believes that this tradition also reflects the influence of Pingpu indigenous culture.

Betelnuts, which are the fruits of the areca palm, have medicinal properties and are used in tonic foods. The photo shows a tonic dish called betelnut and chicken hotpot. (MOFA file photo)

Preparing betelnuts for sale: Leaves of the betel pepper vine are coated with a thin layer of hydrated lime, and then are shaped into tubes into which betelnuts are inserted.

The biochemical effects of the combination of betelnuts, betel leaves and hydrated lime give betelnuts their stimulating properties.

The taste of love

How can one put the flavor of betelnuts into words? Eaten alone, betelnuts have a rough texture, but adding the leaves of betel pepper (Piper betle) leaves add a pungent sensation. In days gone by lime would be added in the form of crushed seashells, removing the astringency and making the whole product sweeter. When this combined sweet, astringent, and bitter feeling rushes from the throat to the forehead, one feels one’s heart beating slightly faster and one begins to feel warm all over. This effect, produced by arecoline, an alkaloid substance contained in betelnuts, is the reason why the nuts came to be used to as a stimulant.

Many indigenous communities in Taiwan use this multifaceted flavor to represent love. Yang Cheng-hsien mentions a poignant myth of the Amis people related to betelnuts: Long ago, a pair of lovers who were unable to be together committed suicide for love, and an areca palm grew in the place where they had died. Some betel pepper vines climbed up the palm tree, and the two plants became intertwined. Later people combined betelnuts with betel leaves, and discovered that together they offer a bittersweet mixture of tastes, just like the indescribable feeling of love. As a result, in Amis culture betelnuts came to symbolize love, and were given as pledges.

At the Amis Harvest Festival, one of the last two nights is a night for lovers. Male tribe members wear alufu (“lover’s bags”) and dance in the plaza. At this time mothers in the community will size them up and see whether they are taking pleasure in the ritual and enthusiastically playing their part in the communal activities. They will recommend to their daughters that they place gifts of betelnuts in the bags of the hardiest men as a step towards further romance.

“When a woman present betelnuts to a man, this indicates that she really likes him. Betelnuts represent a pledge of affection, so they can’t be given away casually! That’s how it is among the Amis people,” says Yang Cheng-hsien in a humorously warning tone.

Yang Cheng-hsien explains that for the Amis people, betelnuts represent love.

An alufu (“lover’s bag”) of the Amis indigenous people, used to hold betelnuts given as tokens of affection.

The social function of betelnuts

Yang, who has long studied the Tao people of Lanyu (Orchid Island), points out that betelnuts are a symbol of friendship there. “If you go to a friend’s house on Orchid Island, and the host doesn’t serve betelnuts, that means he doesn’t see you as a friend and you are not welcome.” When the betelnut platter is offered, it is filled not with wrapped betelnuts but with the raw nuts themselves, while betel leaves are placed on the side along with a jar of lime. Everyone sits in a circle and prepares their own betelnuts as they chat.

“The taste of betelnut is also the taste of time,” explains Yang. In the past, it took a lot of work to enjoy betelnuts, from finding the areca palms and gathering the betel pepper leaves to grinding up the seashells, so that chewing them was a very emotive experience. Because they were so difficult to access, they were symbols of value and hospitality and became treasured gifts.

In today’s society areca palms and their fruit, betelnuts, have many uses. For example, pigments can be extracted from the nuts to dye cloth, while areca leaf sheaths can be made into cultural and creative products. (MOFA file photos)

Pledges between men and gods

Alak Akatuang, who is a hereditary priest in his community, says: “Betelnuts [abiki in the Sirayan language] are objects through which we communicate with our ancestors.” Even today, the Siraya preserve their traditional ritual of offering vessels filled with water or wine to Alid, the ancestors and ancestral spirits that are central to their religious beliefs. In fact, his community still has a building known as the kuwa that serves as both a center of faith and a gathering place to discuss local affairs.

“On the first and 15th days of every lunar month, or any time you want to ask a question of your ancestors or talk to them, you can bring betelnuts and rice wine to the kuwa.” Alak Akatuang removes his shoes before entering the kuwa, and with betelnuts in hand, kneels to speak with or pray to the ancestral spirits. He then places the nuts in front of the ancestral vessel and drips rice wine onto them to represent sharing a drink with the ancestors. After this he takes a mouthful of rice wine and sprays it through his lips towards the front and back of the altar, symbolizing the sharing of the liquor with other souls. This ritual is known in Sirayan as san-hiang.

Besides making offerings of individual betelnuts, during the ceremony the celebrant also uses a string of betelnuts as a ritual object. Further, he will even cut betelnuts in half and use them for divination. Alak Akatuang says that in his grandfather’s time the priest would cast down a handful of betelnuts and determine their meaning from the pattern they fell in, but this tradition has not been passed down to the present day. Today they are used in a similar way to the crescent-shaped divination blocks of Han Chinese folk customs. However, he adds, there is nothing wrong with this as it is only natural that cultures borrow from each other.

At the time of our visit to Kabuasua, the Siraya “Ta’ai” event was fast approaching. This nighttime ceremony, and a companion ritual, the “Xiaohai Ceremony” (to pay respects to ancestors who crossed the seas), are held on the fourth and fifth days of the ninth lunar month, respectively. Alak Akatuang explains that every evening in the run-up to the Ta’ai, each clan must practice the O-roraw, in which women of the community, wearing floral wreaths on their heads, link arms in a circle and dance specified steps while intoning the ancient O-roraw melody. They perform this ritual for the ancestors in thanks for their protection and as a prayer for wellbeing and good fortune. The floral wreaths, made with areca flowers, have betelnuts placed on top before practice begins.

Betelnuts used in rituals like these cannot simply be discarded at random. Instead, they are thrown onto rooftops or into places where neither people nor animals go. “Because betelnuts have religious meanings, areca palms are sacred plants.”

“From a young age children bring betelnuts with them when they go to the kuwa to worship. This is part of our daily lives and is also a way for the community to build a shared identity. Even if no one was in the habit of chewing betelnuts, they would still be preserved for use in everyday religious rituals,” says Alak Akatuang.

Look closely at the role of betelnuts in the cultures of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples, and you will find that these little “cultural time capsules” are storehouses of countless stories!

Alak Akatuang explains that betelnuts are used by the Siraya indigenous people to commune with their ancestral spirits.

Betelnuts are sacred offerings indispensable to Siraya rituals.