Editing Areca nut (section)

=== Traditional consumption ===
{{Main|Betel nut chewing}}
[[File:Paan60.jpg|Display of the items usually included in a chewing session: The betel leaves are folded, with slices of the dry areca nut on the upper left hand and slices of the tender areca nut on the upper right. The pouch on the lower right contains tobacco, a relatively recent introduction.|thumb]]
[[File:Betelnut-Cutter, Indonesia.JPG|Areca nut cutter from Indonesia|thumb]]

Chewing the mixture of areca nut and betel leaf constitutes an important and popular cultural activity in many [[South Asia]]n, [[Southeast Asia]]n, [[East Asia]]n and [[Oceania|Oceanic]] countries. Why or when the areca nut and the betel leaf were first combined into one psychoactive drug is not known. Archaeological evidence from Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines suggests they have been used in tandem for at least 4,000 years.<ref>{{cite web |title=Archaeological evidence from Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines |url=http://www.epistola.com/sfowler/scholar/scholar-betel.html |access-date=2014-06-10 |publisher=Epistola.com}}</ref>

The oldest unequivocal evidence of betel chewing is from the Philippines, specifically that of several individuals found in a burial pit in the [[Duyong Cave]] site of [[Palawan]] island dated to around 2680±250 [[BCE]]. The dentition of the skeletons is stained, typical of betel chewers. The grave also includes ''[[Anadara]]'' shells used as containers of lime, one of which still contained lime. Burial sites in [[Bohol]] dated to the first millennium CE also show the distinctive reddish stains characteristic of betel chewing. Based on linguistic evidence of how the reconstructed [[Proto-Austronesian]] term ''*buaq'' originally meaning "fruit" came to refer to "areca nut" in [[Proto-Malayo-Polynesian]], it is believed that betel chewing originally developed somewhere within the Philippines shortly after the beginning of the [[Austronesian expansion]] (~3000 BCE). From the Philippines, it spread back to Taiwan, as well as onwards to the rest of [[Austronesia]] and in neighboring cultures through trade and migration.<ref name="Zumbroich2007" />

In Vietnam, the areca nut and the betel leaf are such important symbols of love and marriage that in [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] the phrase "matters of betel and areca" (''chuyện trầu cau'') is synonymous with marriage.  The tradition of chewing areca nuts starts the talk between the groom's parents and the bride's parents about the young couple's marriage. Therefore, the leaves and juices are used ceremonially in Vietnamese weddings. The folk tale explaining the origin of this Vietnamese tradition is a good illustration of the belief that the combination of areca nut and the betel leaf is ideal to the point they are practically inseparable, like an idealized married couple.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vietnamese Legend |url=http://www.vietspring.org/legend/traucau.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140805204444/http://www.vietspring.org/legend/traucau.html |archive-date=2014-08-05 |access-date=2014-06-10 |publisher=Vietspring.org}}</ref>

Formerly, in both India and Sri Lanka, it was a custom of the royalty to chew areca nut with betel leaf. Kings had special attendants whose duty it was to carry a box with all the necessary ingredients for a good chewing session. There was also a custom for lovers to chew areca nut and betel leaf together, because of its breath-freshening and relaxant properties. A sexual symbolism thus became attached to the chewing of the nut and the leaf. The areca nut represented the male principle, and the betel leaf the female principle. Considered an auspicious ingredient in [[Hinduism]] and some schools of [[Buddhism]], the areca nut is still used along with betel leaf in religious ceremonies, and also while honoring individuals in much of southern Asia.<ref name="rrh">{{cite journal |last1=Auluck |first1=A |last2=Hislop |first2=G |last3=Poh |first3=C |last4=Zhang |first4=L |last5=Rosin |first5=MP |date=14 May 2009 |title=Areca nut and betel quid chewing among South Asian immigrants to Western countries and its implications for oral cancer screening |url=https://www.rrh.org.au/journal/article/1118 |journal=Rural and Remote Health |volume=9 |issue=2 |page=1118 |pmc=2726113 |pmid=19445556 |access-date=7 September 2019}}</ref>

In [[Assam]], as well as most of its neighbouring Northeastern states, Areca Nut is preferably consumed in its fermented form, which is supposed to make the fruit harder and sweeter. The raw nut may also be eaten during certain seasons when the fermented variety becomes unavailable, although it has more of ritual importance. Standard sized pieces of the nut and leaf are usually consumed in combination with lime and a bit of tobacco. In Assam, betel nut and leaf has indispensable cultural value; offering betel leaf and nut, (together known as ''gua'') constitutes a part of social greeting and socialising. It is a tradition to offer ''pan-tamul'' (betel leaves and raw areca nut) to guests immediately upon arrival, and after tea or meals, served in a brass plate with stands called  ''bota''. In traditional Assamese societies carrying a pouch of ''tamul-pan'' upon one's person during journeys or during farming activities, and sharing of the same, was an essential requirement. Among the Assamese, the areca nut also has a variety of uses during religious and marriage ceremonies, where it has the role of a fertility symbol. No religious ritual is complete without the offering of ''tamul-pan'' to the gods and spirits as well as to the assembled guests <ref>{{Citation |last1=Ahuja |first1=Uma |title=Betel Nuts |date=2016 |pages=877–882 |place=Dordrecht |publisher=Springer Netherlands |doi=10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_9835 |isbn=978-94-007-7746-0 |last2=Ahuja |first2=Siddharth |last3=Ahuja |first3=Subhash Chander |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures}}</ref> A tradition from Upper Assam is to invite guests to wedding receptions by offering a few areca nuts with betel leaves. During [[Bihu]], the ''husori'' players are offered areca nuts and betel leaves by each household while their blessings are solicited.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Spanish mariner [[Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira|Álvaro de Mendaña]] reported observing [[Solomon Islands|Solomon Islanders]] chewing the nut and the leaf with caustic lime, and the manner in which the habit stained their mouths red. He noted the friendly and genial chief Malope, on [[Santa Isabel Island]], would offer him the combination as a token of friendship every time they met.<ref>Graves, Robert (1984), Las islas de la imprudencia, Barcelona: Edhasa. {{ISBN|84-350-0430-9}}</ref>

In [[Bhutan]], the areca nut is called ''doma''. The soft and moist raw areca nut is very potent. When chewed it can cause [[Palpitations|palpitation]] and [[vasoconstriction]]. This form is eaten in the lower regions of Bhutan and in North Bengal, where the nut is cut into half and put into a local ''paan'' leaf with a generous amount of lime. In the rest of Bhutan the raw nut, with the husk on, is fermented such that the husk rots and is easy to extract. The fermented doma has a putrid odour, which can be smelled from miles.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} Traditionally, this fragrant nut is cut in half and placed on top of a cone made of local betel leaf, which has a dash of lime put into it. "Myth has it that the inhabitants of Bhutan traditionally known as Monyul, the land of Monpas where Buddhism did not reach lived on raw flesh, drank blood, and chewed bones. After the arrival of Guru Rinpoche in the eighth century, he stopped the people from eating flesh and drinking blood and created a substitute which is betel leaf, lime and areca nut. Today, chewing doma has become a custom. Doma is served after meals, during rituals and ceremonies. It is offered to friends and is chewed at work places by all sections of society and has become an essential part of Bhutanese life and culture."<ref>{{cite web |title=Chewing doma: Myth to tradition &#124; Bhutan 2008 |url=http://www.bhutan2008.bt/en/node/298 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120409091824/http://www.bhutan2008.bt/en/node/298 |archive-date=2012-04-09 |access-date=2012-11-08}}</ref>

The addition of tobacco leaf to the chewing mixture is a relatively recent innovation, as tobacco was not introduced from the [[Americas]] until the colonial era.

Reasons for starting to consume areca nuts appears to involve complex [[psychosocial]] factors.<ref name="More-2020">{{cite journal |vauthors=More C, Rao NR, More S, Johnson NW |date=June 2020 |title=Reasons for Initiation of Areca Nut and Related Products in Patients with Oral Submucous Fibrosis within an Endemic Area in Gujarat, India |journal=Substance Use & Misuse |volume=55 |issue=9 |pages=1413–1421 |doi=10.1080/10826084.2019.1660678 |pmid=32569538 |s2cid=219991434}}</ref>