The pepper seeds are usually planted throughout March, rapidly growing during the summertime and then harvested each autumn around October.

After being hand-picked, the peppers are then strung into wreaths, some of which contain 100 individuals, ultimately sundried on roofs and walls throughout the village.

When dried, the peppers are being incorporated into myriad of food items and dishes all over the country.

The village’s paprika peppers are also used to make Ajvar, one of Serbia’s most popular staple side-dish, made of minced pepper paste, often mixed with oil and eggplants.

Following the harvest in October, the village hosts the “Days of Peppers” festival, in which villagers and visitors from all over the region join to celebrate its local peppery heritage.

The apex of the festival are the numerous contests among the local pepper producers like peeling and baking, while the most significant one is stringing as many peppers as possible in the shortest possible time, consecutively won in the last years by Vesna Milojković, a local villager.

The architecture throughout the village is nothing out of the ordinary, yet the striking red clusters of peppers serve as quaint ornaments, making its architectural mundanity unnoticeable.

Unfortunately, in recent years the village’s population dwindled to about 800 inhabitants as many young people move to larger towns in search of better economic opportunities.

The ongoing depopulation is accompanied by enormous challenges upon this remarkable rural community. The family old tradition of cultivating, harvesting and sun-drying the peppers was generationally passed for centuries, and without young people to acquire the formidable skills needed to maintain the village’s sole source of income, Donja Lokošnica’s elders openly fear that their cultural heritage will die out in a matter of few decades.

I would like to believe that Donja Lokošnica with its exceptional way of life will ultimately survive its impending cultural challenges, one way in which it can be fulfilled is by attracting a slightly larger number of tourists, who have the potential of economically elevating the village.

Surrounding the village are countless greenhouses where the peppers are being grown and hand-picked, easily noticeable while driving to and from the village on the potholes filled road.

Interestingly, some of the pepper bundles also get sundried in the greenhouses themselves.

Take note that the village of Donja Lokošnica is roughly 45-minute drive away from Niš. Due to a lack of reliable public transportation, the only feasible way of getting there is by renting a car, hitching a ride or simply hiring a driver with guide.