c/cultural-taboo-topics

I finally asked my grandma why she never taught us about our family history

She broke down and said her mom made her swear never to talk about the cousin who married outside their religion in the 60s, the whole town shunned them for years after. Has anyone else found out their family buried a taboo like that for generations?

1 comments

taylor_fox•9h ago

Had to choose between a fancy funeral and a simple one for my dad in rural Kentucky

When my dad passed in 2022, my siblings pushed for the $8,000 funeral package with the fancy casket and embalming. I grew up around his stories about how funerals are just expensive parties for the living, so I pushed back hard. We settled on a direct cremation for $1,200 and held a potluck at the farm where he taught me to fix fence posts. Has anyone else had to fight family over money stuff when someone died?

c/cultural-taboo-topics

I finally asked my grandma why she never taught us about our family history

Had to choose between a fancy funeral and a simple one for my dad in rural Kentucky

Vent: Everyone thinks it's fine to ask about my grandma's death at dinner

Found out the hard way why you don't talk about funeral prices in Japan

Just realized talking about death at dinner is normal in Mexico

Took me 3 weeks to find out Indian families don't talk about wills

My family in rural Kentucky won't talk about my cousin's suicide at all

Why does nobody talk about how weddings can tear families apart?

My grandma's neighbor in rural Alabama wouldn't let me drink from her water fountain back in '97

That funeral in Japan where they wouldn't let women near the altar

My buddy from Nigeria was shocked I eat pork chops in front of my dog

Showerthought: That $50 Italian leather wallet I bought in Florence was a tourist trap waste

Remember when talking about mental health was totally off limits? My dad never said a word about his anxiety until I was 30.

Can we talk about that fact that in Japan it's taboo to blow your nose in public?

Remember when discussing politics at family dinners was just awkward, not explosive?

Overheard a guy in a café near Barcelona say his mom wouldn't let him eat cheese after 6 PM - turns out it's a Catalan thing about dairy being 'too heavy' at night

Question about why my family hides mental health stuff like it's a secret

Spent an afternoon talking about death rituals at my uncle's dinner table in Seoul and nobody got mad

Had to choose between burying my dad or cremating him in a country where neither was normal

Paid $80 for a Korean funeral ritual I didn't understand and felt like a complete outsider

Can we talk about the number 108 in Japanese culture

Walked out of a funeral in Kentucky because I was laughing at the wrong time

My uncle changed my mind about arranged marriage after one conversation at a diner in Chicago

Heard my aunt in Mumbai say 'don't touch me' to her own daughter last week

Had a weird moment at a family dinner in Seoul last month