On May 17, the Portuguese community of Arroyo Grande hosted its annual Festa Divino Espirito Santo, known as the Feast of the Holy Spirit in English, at the Portuguese Hall. Over the last 100 years, Arroyo Grande has drawn Portuguese people from across the state together for a meaningful celebration.

At the event, cooks served a traditional meal of sopas. It originates in the Azores, a Portuguese island chain in the Atlantic Ocean, from which most Portuguese community members in California descend. Sopas is composed of seasoned beef, cabbage, and bread soaked in the meat juice.

Dennis Gularte, who has served as head cook for the event for 33 years, begins preparing the traditional soup as early as 5 a.m. 

“We get the fire lit and try to get the meat in the pot by 6 [a.m.],” Gularte said. “By 11:30 [a.m.], everything is cooked and ready.” 

Although there is a suggested donation to cover the costs of feeding many individuals, the sopas are served free because, traditionally, the Festa was a way to feed the hungry.

Portuguese Festas are also known for their queens, a tradition dating back to the story of St. Elizabeth of Portugal.

Sarah Machado-Estrada, who was once in charge of selecting queens for the Festa, said that there are two different interpretations as to why queens are a central part of the Festa. 

“One [story] is that [St. Elizabeth’s] village was suffering from famine, and she sold her crown jewels to pay for food, and another story was that she let the young girls of her village dress up in her jewels,” Machado-Estrada said. 

This year’s senior queens included Arroyo Grande High School students Emery Bailey (‘29) and Emma D’alo (‘27), as well as Addison Sutherland. This year’s junior queens (typically young girls who recently received their first communion in the Catholic Church) were Scout Carvalho, Carleigh Martin, and Abigail Welker.

At the Festa, the queens and their attendants participate in a procession before serving the Sopas, where they wear their capes and crowns to open the event. The senior queens and their attendants help afterward at the auction, presenting items while those attending place bids.

This year, auction items included food items such as linguiça and strawberries, as well as items such as walking sticks and t-shirts decorated with Portuguese and Azorean-inspired designs.

For Gularte, he hopes that the generations to come will continue to pass the Festa traditions down in the future. 

“I hope to pass it on, and that Festa continues for hundreds more years,” Gularte said.