National Genealogy Day

Four nationwide genealogy organizations declared Finland's national Genealogy Day in December 2021. The Genealogy Day is celebrated every year on the 11th of April. All organizations, individual genealogists, families and family circles involved with genealogy can celebrate the day in the way they see fit.

Background to the Day and its Purpose

The primary purpose of Genealogy Day is to make genealogy and its communities' activities known among the wider audience. This can be done through press releases to the local press or by giving them interviews, arranging small scale genealogy lectures or even by arranging larger seminars. Genealogy Day can be celebrated not only on the 11th of April but also on other days the same week.

The day chosen as the National Genealogy Day is the day of Turku's Bishop Johannes Terserus's (1605–1678) passing. Terserus was a pioneer of amateur and crowd-sourced genealogy. As Bishop of Turku he initiated a research project lasting over 300 years the results of which were published in the 1850 book Genealogia Sursilliana and in the 1971 book Sursill's Family.

Speakers at the Genealogy Day's launch event in December 2021 included Jouni Elomaa, the chairperson the Genealogical Society of Finland, Sami Lehtonen, chairperson of Finland's Family History Association, Teuvo Parviainen, the chairperson of the Central Association of Genealogy Societies and Eeva-Riitta Wirta, chairperson of the Karelian Family Communities. The launch event of the Genealogy Day can be viewed on the Society's YouTube channel.

Juha Vuorela giving a talk on National Genelogy Day 2022.