Phan (Thai: พาน, pronounced [pʰāːn]) is an artistically decorated tray with pedestal.
Phans are also used for containing other highly important things, including legal documents such as the constitution, or offerings to royalty.
They are also used in traditional marriage ceremonies, especially in variants of the groom's parade to the bridal house to carrying symbolic offerings for the bride's dowry.
Formerly, when the chewing of areca nut and betel was common among Thai, Lao, and Khmer people, the ingredients for chewing, (including the nuts, leaves, spices and instruments for cutting) were presented on a phan to the guest entering the house as part of a traditional welcoming ceremony.
[1] In the story of the "Seven Nang Songkrans", Thao Kabinlaphrom, a mythical being, had to cut off his own head to perform a ceremonial salute to Thammaban Kuman.