October is officially Family History Month. This designation goes back more than 20 years, just 2 and a half weeks after the traumatic events of 9/11. The bill passed by the United States Senate includes a long list of reasons why October should be Family History Month, including this statement:
Whereas individuals learn about their ancestors who worked so hard and sacrificed so much, their commitment to honor their ancestors’ memory by doing good is increased; Whereas interest in our personal family history transcends all cultural and religious affiliations...
You can read the rest of the bill at Congress.gov.. The senators’ justifications are right in line with what sociologists, mental health professionals, and other experts have been saying for years—as described in these 2 articles that were published in The New York Times: "The Family Stories that Bind Us" and "Why You Should Dig Up Your Family's History and How to Do It"
In short, family history is a powerful catalyst for uniting not just families, but entire communities. Learning about your ancestors can make you more resilient in the face of challenges and setbacks.
How to Celebrate Family History Month
The great thing about an official month (as opposed to an official holiday) is that you have a lot more time to celebrate. And you don’t have to worry about fitting all of your favorite activities into a single afternoon or evening.
Celebrating Family History Month, in particular, is low pressure. You can choose 1 or 2 activities that are important to you and plan a day to enjoy them, or just look for random moments throughout the day or week to think about your family story and what it means to you.
For a professional genealogist, family history might mean writing a book-length biography about a specific ancestor or tracing a family line into the Middle Ages and beyond. (You’re going to need some extra time on your hands for that one!)
For many of us, though, family history is much more simple and everyday—like telling a child about a favorite Christmas memory or framing a beloved family photo and hanging it somewhere in the home.
31 Simple Ways to Celebrate Family History Month
These are ideas that you can pick and choose as you like. Or better yet, you could come up with a fun idea of your own—something that won’t take too much planning and that you could possibly share with a friend, relative, or member of your family.
Are you ready to celebrate Family History Month? Here are 31 simple family history activities, one for each day of the month:
- Go to FamilySearch, and read about the origin of your last name.
- Make a beloved family dessert, and share it with someone.
- Record a story on FamilySearch. This simply means talking into your phone for a few minutes and saving the recording.
- Send a text message to a relative in your family who you haven’t talked to in a while.
- Display a new family photo some place in your home.
- Create a digital family tree. If you already have a family tree, add at least one photo or story to the people in your tree.
- Find a historical record with your ancestor’s name on it.
- Spend 5–10 minutes on Google Maps looking at street views of where one of your ancestors lived.
- Write in your journal about a relative or family member who has been an important influence in your life.
- Record another story on FamilySearch.
- Plan a new family tradition for an upcoming holiday.
- Ask one or more friends to tell you where their last name comes from.
- Look up one of your ancestor’s homelands on Wikipedia, and learn something new about it.
- Go to FamilySearch Get Involved, and review at least one name from a historical record. Reviewing names makes it so other people can search for and find the record.
- Look through some family photographs that are at least 5 years old, and share one with someone in your family.
- Call one or more of the oldest living relatives in your family, and ask them how they are doing. Ask them something about their past.
- Learn something new about the year you were born.
- Find out which of your ancestors you look like (this activity works best if you already have an account with FamilySearch).
- Record another story on FamilySearch.
- See if you’re related to anyone famous.
- Use FamilySearch, BillionGraves, or Find a Grave to find a relative’s or ancestor’s headstone.
- Learn more about a relative or ancestor by reading his or her obituary.
- Take a picture of a favorite family recipe, and save it to FamilySearch. You can tag the photo to yourself or to the relative who made the recipe famous.
- Watch a short family history class from RootsTech 2022 about discovering and sharing your family stories.
- Take a few minutes to enjoy a family heirloom. Tell someone in your family the story of where it came from.
- Armistice Day is coming up. See if you’re related to anyone who fought in World War I by searching draft cards and other service records.
- Try a new recipe for a food item from an ancestor’s homeland. Cook it up, and see how it tastes.
- Take a walk outside with a family member and share a story or 2.
- Ask your parents or grandparents if they have any old photo albums you could look at. Schedule a time to look at the photos together, either in person or on the computer.
- Go on a mini pilgrimage to a place that has special meaning to your family. Be creative. The journey could take 10 minutes or a couple of hours.
- Explore how people in other countries celebrate Day of the Dead and All Souls’ Day and choose a new tradition for yourself or your family to participate in.
As long as you do one thing this month to get to know your family history better or celebrate your own personal story, you can say you’ve officially celebrated Family History Month!
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At FamilySearch, we care about connecting you with your family, and we provide fun discovery experiences and family history services for free. Why? Because we cherish families and believe that connecting generations can improve our lives now and forever. We are a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To learn more about our beliefs, click here.
