Betel Leaves and Betel Boxes
Betel, tobacco and pickled tea is an expression in Myanmar Language that speaks of hospitality and welcomes a visitor to one's home.
Betel boxes, along with bowls and trays of all sizes and shapes, were important items of the regalia of the Myanmar Kings. Betel Boxes may be lacquer, silver or bronze, ornate or plain, depending on the wealth of the owner, and are part of the furnishings in the knife is.
The circular betel box at first glance, looks solid, but is in reality nicely fitted with a lid over a small container for holding betel nut. The top of the bowl is fitted with two shallow trays, one on top of the other. The upper tray has four little cups to hold ingredients for making betel nuts: cloves, cutch, and seeds, shredded wild Licorice or sweet creeper (Nwe-Cho). Lime, soft and pure, is kept in the brass phial. In the second tray is a layer of dried tobacco leaves. Only when the tray is taken out of the main bowl are green fresh betel leaves revealed.
Betel boxes also played an important part in courtship some fifty or sixty years ago. In those days houses had a kind of Loggia for marriageable girls of the family to entertain their suitors by betel box. The girl chatted with the young men until she chose the person she liked. She showed her preference for a particular young man by giving him a betel quid made of her own hands. The habit of serving the visitor with betel box is a sweet habitual custom of Myanmar people since Myanmar Kings era till now in some parts of the country.