“Visit Nepal”‘s Yeti: How Mythical Creature Divided Himalayan Nation
BBC | 28 January 2020 | Kamal Pariyar

A row over the yeti has pitted experts against officials — and, for once, it is not about whether or not the mythical creature actually exists.

Instead, it is how the creature looks.

“This is not right. The government can’t just do as it wants,” passer-by Reshma Shrestha says, shaking her head in front of the 7ft (2.1m) tall statue at the centre of a row.

“If you did not tell me, I would not have known that it was a yeti.”

‘It’s a sumo wrestler’

The arrival of the first of more than 100 statues emblazoned with the words “Visit Nepal” was supposed to be the start of a year-long celebration of what the small Himalayan nation had to offer to the outside world.

They will soon be popping up across the country — at popular tourist attractions, trade centres, airports and some of the base camps in the Himalayas — as well as travelling further afield to act as mascots in cities around the world.

But the launch of the tourism drive, which aims to bring two million tourists to the region, has been somewhat overshadowed by the row over the statues’ appearance.

“In folk tales, the yeti has been described as a big monkey-like creature,” Ram Kumar Pandey tells the BBC. “However, the recent logo depicts it as a sumo wrestler. This does not at all match with the mythical character that has been described in many folk tales.”

And Pandey should know: the author of several books on the subject, his objections are supported by other Nepalese cultural historians.

From the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Buddha” department:

If they’re so keen to boost tourism, how about a new slogan: “Have Retired Lame Clerks From Jersey Step Over Your Frozen Corpse On Everest”?