Vigan Visit Part 4: Pagburnayan

This is the last entry of my Vigan Visit. I apologize for not being able to update for quite awhile.

The last stop is in a burnay factory, Ruby’s pottery. Burnay is an earthen jar with a small opening molded by a potter using a potter’s wheel.

The man who greeted me was friendly and accomodating. For eleven years, he has been making burnay. I was more than willing to watch his “demo”.

He got this large chunk of clay and laid it on the potter’s wheel. His assitant then turned the wheel with his foot.

And then he did his thing… Easy does it…

According to the potter, the burnay they made was bought by factories who produced bagoong and salt, to name a few. Some he said, were bought by locals to store whir drinking water. I remember that my grandfather’s house in La Union had one burnay jar which they stored water in. He also mentioned that some jars were also bought for landscaping purposes.The clay pit on the end of the burnay factory was also described/ explained by the potter. The clay, mud and water are mixed in proportions. He said, it was like baking a giant cake, where all the ingredients have to be mixed with a giant mixer. A carabao was used to mix all these ingredients.

Out of curiosity, I asked the potter how they deal with a carabao “answering the call of nature”. He then told me that a carabao will raise his tail when he wanted to, well, let’s say, eliminate wastes. And when the carabao wants to pee? He said that before the carabao ’submerges’ itself in the mixture, they fit him with a container to catch its urine. I don’t know if the potter was pulling my leg but I did not ask anymore questions.

It all starts here… A fire is started at this point, until it reaches the other end. The temperature is made constant around the clock with the use of wood as fuel…

Wood is placed on the holes (marked with a blue rectangle). The cooking of the burnay jars takes one and a half days. Workers, according to the potter, have to stay awake and take turns placing wood on these holes.

After buying some souvenirs, I had to head back to the hotel because it started to rain heavily. It was disappointing because I still wanted to continue the tour around the city.

Manong cochero asked if I wanted him to take me around the city the following day. Unfortunately, I had to go back to Baguio. I bid farewell to manong cochero and Piolo.

Vigan is indeed beautiful. And the people, they are, like their city, beautiful! I’ll be back

Expenses:
Kalesa Ride : 300pesos
Souvenirs: 270 pesos