History, Culture & Arts: Where have all the carrocerias, pandayans gone?

This is the question a number of Bayambangueños ask upon coming home to the town after four decades.

Fat chances are the present generation does not understand what these old-timers are talking about.

Carrocerias are the smithies or blacksmith's workshops that made, on orders, the carts farmers used to transport farm products or the carromatas that transported people.

Pandayans are similar shops that made, also on orders, bladed implements of all shapes and sizes for sundry purposes.

Sometimes, carrocerias and pandayans are one and the same shops. Many old-timers, one in Buayaen, another in Amancosiling Norte and a third in Tambac. But these artisans' shops do no longer exist.

No one makes carromatas anymore after tricycles took over the roads. On the other hand, mass-produced or imported cutleries pushed pandayans into obsolescence.*

To mark town's culture & arts body 1st anniv: Symposium on Bayambang's "birth" set

When was Bayambang established as a political or civil administrative unit? Finding the answer to this question is one of the missions of the Municipal Council for Culture and the Arts or MCCA created last year by Mayor Ricardo M. Camacho.

The search will be launched with a symposium on November 12.

This year, Bayambang celebrated what is counted as its 396th fiesta, obviously meaning that the town is as "old" as that. Many however say that this reckoning was based only on ecclesiastical records.

An executive order creating and composing a research committee to pinpoint as near as possible the "birth" of Bayambang is now being drafted.

The MCCA is mandated to:

1. Preserve the indigenous,historical, cultural and artistic heritage of Bayambang to enable the people to establish and enhance their collective identity and dignity as a community.
2. Provide Bayambangueños the opportunity to relate present life with that of the past that would lead to a much better future.

The body is also tasked to preserve the areas among others, involving arts, music, dances, literary pieces, drama, cinema, visual arts and historical accounts.

At present, the MCCA is in the thick of researching on and collecting artifacts and historical records and necessary materials that will be preserved in the Bayambang Museum.*