Donja Lokosnica

About

This village is home to less than a thousand people and is shrinking all the time due to its aging population. However, it also happens to be the self-proclaimed paprika capital of the world, boasting a shared love for the cultivation of peppers. Every household here participates in growing and processing the “red gold” for up to nine months out of the year, harvesting tons of the peppers in autumn. The town transforms into a crimson village as millions of peppers are hung outside of homes to dry. The village hosts a Pepper Days festival to celebrate the fruits of their labor, inviting visitors from all over the globe to taste these incredible peppers. Villagers compete in every step of the pepper preparation process, but the most fiercely contested is the stringing competition. The process of hanging the peppers uses specialized techniques that have been passed down for centuries.