Espelette’s pepper festival began in 1967 under the village tourist organisation. The Confrérie du Piment d’Espelette took over its organisation in 1969, building a celebration around the end of the harvest and the product that gives the village its distinctive identity. France’s intangible cultural heritage inventory records the event as a living local practice, bringing together growers, musicians, traders and residents.

The weekend joins a gastronomic fair to Basque performance and ceremonial traditions. Pepper blessing, visiting food brotherhoods and new-member inductions give Sunday a different character from an ordinary farmers’ market. Bands and village food keep the public festivities lively. Seeing both days helps explain the relationship between the crop, its producers and the wider Basque culture represented in the streets.