Click on the Picture or in the Menu under "Festas/Events" to view the Agenda for this year's festivities in Portuguese and English!


Special Message for the Community:

Serving the Community

The 2009 Artesia DES Committee would like to invite the whole community, especially children and teens, to participate in our annual “parade of gifts”.

In honor of the Holy Spirit and Saint Isabel, our committee has decided to collect items for the Los Angeles Catholic Worker Program, who in turn donates them to the poor and needy. All items will be donated in the name of the Portuguese Community of Artesia.
This organization gladly will accept the following items on Saturday, July 25 at the Artesia DES during our festa:

Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Soap
Deodorant
Brushes and Combs
Shampoo
Hair Conditioner
Body Lotion
Vitamins
Tylenol

Your help, love, contributions and caring spirit are vital to this year’s celebration. Our society, and especially our queens, want to follow the example of Queen Isabel and continue with the true meaning of the Holy Spirit Festival that was brought over from Portugal.

Thank you
Artesia DES 2009

Artesia DES was founded in 1927 with the idea to promote the traditions of the Portuguese in Artesia. It came about after the founding of the Holy Family Catholic Church in 1925 by the Portuguese Community and by Father Manuel Vicente, its first Pastor. The first Festa do Divino Espirito Santo was held in 1927. Mass was said at the Frampton Building for the first couple years of the festa, followed by a parade to the same site that the Artesia DES is at today. Circus tents were used as a temporary shelter to serve the "Sopas do Espirito Santo" until the hall was built in 1935. Holy Family was built on Corby Ave in 1931 and was subsequently moved to its present day site on Clarkdale Ave. in 1960. If you are still wondering, D.E.S. stands for Divino Espírito Santo (Divine Holy Spirit).

In 1974, the Artesia DES went through a massive re-organization due to the ideas of a growing number of immigrants that came primarily from the Azores who wanted to become more active in the community. This re-organization included gathering paying members to the club, writing up by-laws, forming a General Assembly of Members, and electing a new Board of Directors yearly. This re-organization helped make Artesia DES one of the most successful Portuguese societies in California. In 1983, Artesia DES went through a massive renovation. This re-modeling included a new chapel, a new band room, a new soccer club, a new dining hall, and a renovated bull arena.

The main goal of the Artesia DES hall is to promote Portuguese pride and heritage through the many diverse activities held year round. The organization's main function nowadays is to maintain the Artesia D.E.S. Band and the Artesia D.E.S. Soccer Club. These two groups, especially, help the throng of Portuguese youth get involved in their community and promote leadership skills that will promote Artesia DES well into the future. This site is dedicated to all the men, women, and children who helped build up the Portuguese Community in Artesia through this organization as well as those who are maintaining it today.

For the most part the celebrations in the Artesia DES Hall have its roots in religious tradition, but you will find there people from "all walks of life". As matter of fact the religion part of the celebrations start once the parade/procession leaves to church, and finishes on its return. At the Hall, you can be entertained by musical marching/concert bands, "bloodless" bullfights (portuguese bullfighters, unlike the Spanish neighbors never kill the bull), "as velhas" - ancient song art form, popular in Europe since the thirteen century, where trubadors are suppose to improvise a rhymed reply while his opponent is singing. The night is the favorite time for the youth. Different groups come to the Hall to perform a mixture of Portuguese and American music. In the Hall, you can find typical fast food such as; "bifanas" - a bread sandwich with pork meat that smells and tastes real good, lingui­ça sandwich, stew of octopus, and many delicious Portuguese sweets and breads. Most weekends out of the year the Portuguese Hall (two separate halls that can hold many people) is rented and used in weddings and other events. For the schedule of upcoming events at the Artesia DES Hall, check "Festa Schedules". "Bem-Vindos" to the Artesia D.E.S.!!