Can We Please Have a Chilli Festival?

Tourists and locals alike love festivals, and Bhutan has a lot to offer in this respect! In addition to a dazzling array of religious festivals, the Tourism Council of Bhutan has initiated many secular festivals, mostly around a Bhutanese theme: The Black-Necked Crane Festival, the Rhododendron Festival, a Takin Festival and a few others. These are designed to attract tourists as well as help the local communities.

So here's an idea whose time, I feel, has come: a Chilli Festival! The fiery pepper is the unofficial national vegetable, and it's a big part of the national identity. Chilli festivals are not a new phenomenon — see Chilli-Festivals.com for a calendar of chilli events around the world — but what's a better place to celebrate the addiction to this fiery capsicum than the land of ema datsi?

Here are a few festival posters from around the world.