Burnay are earthen jars with small openings while those with bigger mouths are called wangging. In the early years, the burnay, locally known as tapayan or banga, was used for storage of water, rice grains, basi (sugarcane wine) and condiments like salt and bagoong (fish paste). Burnay jars are also used in the fermentation of vinegar that comes from the [...]

Burnay making is what we always hear when we go to Vigan but there is another kind of pottery that has existed longer, even before the Chinese came to Vigan in 1572. This kind of pottery is not known to everybody, even to some of Vigan’s locals. But it has existed and will continue to exist as long as there [...]

One of the few surviving traditional crafts in Vigan is Abel-weaving . Historically, the high demand for the famous handwoven abel Iloco nearly killed the Spanish weaving industry during the galleon trade era. At least three barangays in the city still have abel-weavers, best-known of which is Barangay Camangaan as it produces much of the local abel products available in Vigan’s [...]