For the second consecutive year, FamilySearch Brazil will hold a free, virtual family history event for Portuguese speakers worldwide.
FamilySearch Gerações (“Generations” in English) will be held Nov. 26 to Nov. 28, with all sessions livestreamed in Portuguese on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
Similar to RootsTech based in the United States and ExpoGenealogía based in Mexico, the event will include keynote speakers, panel discussions, workshops, activities and more.
Fábio Falcão Lucas, FamilySearch area manager for Brazil, said the motivation behind the event is to not only help people discover, gather and connect their families but also think about the future.
“We are coming from a pandemic — we have lost a lot, friends and family,” Lucas said, “and we want people in the future to be benefited by the lessons we are taking from this situation. We want to give people this new perspective and perhaps encourage them to create new accounts, add names to the tree and preserve their stories.”
One highlight will be a panel on DNA led by Ricardo di Lazzaro Filho, founder and CEO of Genera and biotech entrepreneur, and Larissa Muniz Falcāo, a medical doctor who also holds a master’s degree in genes from King’s College London.
“This is something that’s being searched for a lot in Brazil, so we’re excited to see how it transpires,” Lucas said.
Genealogy experts will also lead a hands-on workshop on dual citizenship — “another hot topic in Brazil,” Lucas added.
Other keynote speakers during the three-day event include Evandro Fióti, a Brazilian musician who will speak on discovering his African roots, and Daniel Horowitz, MyHeritage genealogist and international speaker from Israel who will address the future of genealogy. Local and national archivists will also participate in a panel.
Elder Juan A. Uceda, a General Authority Seventy and second counselor in the Brazil Area presidency, will speak during a concluding event on Sunday, Nov. 30, for youth. Popular Brazilian Latter-day Saint singer Nicole Luz will give a concluding presentation titled “Family History Through Music.”
“This year the focus is the youth. … Our lineup has a lot of people who are young or know how to communicate with the youth,” Lucas said.
FamilySearch Gerações’s premiere event last year attracted 26,000 registrants. To register for this year’s event and see more of the schedule, go to familysearchgeracoes.com.br.
