By JONEL C. PADRE JUAN

The primacy of betel chewing among the indigenous people in the mountains and even in the foothills of Cordillera draws so much attention in the different milieu of scholarships such as in culture, health and the sciences. The cultural perspective leads us to denote the importance of betel chewing as figured in praoto- or indigenous practices such as chants, songs and folklores. The outlook provided to us by the health study deepens our understanding of the value of betel as a traditional medicinal fruit as illustrated by Leonardo Co in his book. In some way, what we consider as Universalist sciences would contend the tradition and reduce the habit of betel chewing to its undesirable effects to the mouth that may lead to cancer as their studies claim.

In this study, I shall have to guide you through the learning, which I had picked up from published texts and bulletins accessed mostly from books and newspapers. I will be citing, rephrasing and interpreting passages from one of Dawn F. Rooney’s books and most specially, from the book done by the late environmentalist and a Northern Luzon patriot, botanist Leonardo Co. Rooney is a foreign researcher who conducted an investigation on the origin of betel chewing in South-East Asia.

Betel is the nut or fruit of a palm tree, usually cut into tiny strips and chewed alone or in a set with what is known to most natives as bunga. Although, many groups have known it for many by other names, it appears that the former is most encompassing in geography. Co, a botanist, illustrated in his book that betel can be administered as a cure for indigestion or in a decoction as a dewormer.

Chewed in set, bunga is coupled with a leaf of the betel pepper (gawed), lime (apog) and tobacco. This set is collectively known as a betel quid. Before being masticated, the betel is laid in betel-leaf pepper pasted with lime powder. This is the method done in Cordillera context. Tobacco comes when it is chewed before and after chewing a betel quid, practically to clean the teeth from stains. Most of the time, natives would also add tobacco to their quid to achieve the desired effect. There are many techniques on how to prepare the betel quid varying in places and culture. The preparation of the betel quid is an art by itself.

The betel quid is usually kept through a receptacle made of bamboo and metal. The intricacy and the style by which the container was fashioned alter in time and in location. The material and elegance of the container is often seen as a mark of one’s status in the society, thus denoting class.

Betel tree, on the one hand, was considered to be originating from the Philippines (Co, 1989), that fact needs further validation. This palm tree is always found in countries with tropical climate and topographically rich in fertile land in order to sustain it. The betel vine usually is thought to come with it as figured in Indian folklores (Rooney, 1993). So, the demography of betel chewers is found mostly from such sultry places. In the Spanish conquest which started during the 16th century, the Spanish conquistadores found the peculiar habit of betel chewing among the natives; however in time it has been appropriated by affluent people in the European society.

Betel chewing has been a practice among the natives since the pre-Hispanic years. It is said that the practice became known for its capacity to induce joy, euphoria and a general sense of well-being. Betel is chewed in many loci of social practices to wither the intense pain acquired from the impairing modes of labor, and thereby helping the people perform in the many aspects of living other than work. It is very compelling also that betel chewing was not constricted in any age and gender. Going to the upland, you would see young kids chewing betel quid and notice them going giddy. Even women would chew betel in between breaks during their ub-ubbo. Betel chewing was also assimilative to the tradition of courtship among young men women in the South-East Asian culture.

Though Co claims that most of the betel chewers in Cordillera come from Ifugao and in the foothills of the old Kalinga-Apayao, we can surmise that many other natives are also attuned to the habit. This is attested by the kiosks that are selling betel quid in the central market of Baguio and some other parts of the interior sold for as low as P35 for a set of betel quid. Many signages can also be found posted in strategic places prohibiting “moma spitting” as decreed in municipal and city ordinances indicating the fecundity of betel chewers in both the rural and the urban center.

During the research, I found an old native text transcribed and translated into English by Carmen Bulan immortalizing the view of locals from Tanudan, Kalinga and their habit of betel chewing. She brought through words the narratives of chewing a set of betel quid and manners through which locals were able to obtain lime. In her after text, she mentioned that betel chewing is inscribed in the songs of Kalingas, one of which is the ulallim, “a stylized song form in which the activities of traditional folk heroes are recounted” (Bulan, 1985). It is said that betel is also an instrument by which one can immortalize a hero who just died; and when there is no food found anywhere, one only needs to chew a pile of betel in order to survive.

The practice can be associated with the contemporary sweets such as bubble gum, chewed so that it would leave the teeth stained and a mouth with fresh breath; granting that bubble gum is soft as supposed to betel which is astoundingly hard and needs to be turned into strips before being chewed. Although gum chewing is prime suspect to commercial toothpaste ads, the science is suspecting that betel chewing bares more critical adverse effect to the mouth; that some of us might need to confirm because of the absence or lack of people suffering from mouth, throat and lung cancer in the interiors of Cordillera.

Today, only about 6% of the World comprises betel chewers. These are mostly natives coming from the different regions and outskirts of the urban centers, which in our context leaves the tradition amongst our indigenous brothers. This portion of the population can be conceived as cradles of the culture and society of the antiquity as embodied in the practice of betel chewing: Minefields from which we can jumpstart the narrative of the better future for the people done through the arduous epic of the people and celebration of the indigenous culture.

Yes, we may be 14% of the population; but from us can be found 96% of the native culture. # nordis.net