Can culture and tradition actually be wrong, or just different?

[Ellefraser99]

• I had been thinking funerals, marriages, raising of a family are all based on your culture and tradition. When you are faced with one that's different than what you know people find it unfair, wrong or bad. Is it as simple as that or not?

[abc3643]

"I had been thinking funerals, marriages, raising of a family are all based on your culture and tradition."

While the details of funerals, marriages, and raising of a family may be different across cultures, these concepts are universal among humans and have existed since before the Neolithic Revolution about 12000 years ago.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/neolithic-agricultural-revolution

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Google Prompt:

Did funerals and marriages exist before the Neolithic Revolution?

Google AI Overview Response:

Yes, both funerals and marriage-like pair-bonding existed before the Neolithic Revolution (which began roughly 10,000–12,000 years ago). Funerary practices, including intentional burials, date back over 100,000 years to the Paleolithic, while marriage-like pair bonds with social significance likely existed, though they were not necessarily formal legal contracts.

Funerals and Burial Practices (Paleolithic/Mesolithic)

• Intentional Burials: The earliest known human burials date to around 100,000–120,000 years ago, with examples found in Qafzeh, Israel, and other Neanderthal and early Homo sapiens sites.
• Rituals and Goods: These early, pre-Neolithic burials often included red ochre, grave goods, and tools, suggesting beliefs in the afterlife and emotional attachment to the deceased.
• Variety in Treatment: Funerary practices varied, including inhumations (burials in the ground) and some evidence of cremation, with graves often found in caves.

Marriage and Pair-Bonding (Paleolithic/Mesolithic)

• Pair Bonding: While structured, arranmarriages became more prevalent with the settled lifestyle of the Neolithic, pair-bonding for survival and reproduction existed among earlier hunter-gatherers.
• Social Structure: Evidence from anthropology and genetics suggests that ancestral hunter-gatherer societies often practiced monogamy or low-level polygyny.
• Reciprocity: Even in early societies, marriage was likely a way for families to establish alliances and exchange, often involving early forms of bride service.
  

In summary, the Neolithic Revolution (agriculture) changed the nature of these rituals—making them more sedentary, property-based, and focused on ancestor worship—but did not invent them.

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There is no universally right or wrong practice. While some cultures may not like the practices that other cultures use regarding marriage, funerals, and raising families, these concepts are fundamental to the human experience and pre-date human civilization which began in the wake of the Neolithic Revolution.

[strateguy632]

It can be wrong but usually is just different

[LC75LC71]

That depends on point of views. For instance I think marriage is a stupid mistake. That doesn't mean others can't find happiness or a nice life out of it.

[jahaims]

It can obviously be wrong. Pedophilia and cannibalism is part of some culture

[CupcakeTheDestroyer]

No, it’s not that simple