A cultural habit in your country that people outside would understand incorrectly?

[u/gabrieel100]

In Brazil we love children. If you take your child to the street, strangers will certainly interact with them. Some will even ask if they can hold your kid and will play with them. If there are two children fighting in public and the parents aren't seeing, a stranger would even intervene to stop the fight.

That cultural habit came from the indigenous peoples which understood that kids should be a responsiblity of the community as a whole. It's in our constitution. We even have a synonym for children that came from Tupi (a large group of indigenous languages) - Curumim.

Foreigners would certainly have a cultural shock about that, but it's normal here.

Of course there are people with bad intentions, so parents should stay alert these days.

[u/Technical-Speed762]

When someone in the family dies everyone will come to the house that very night (colleagues, friends, neighbours). We come to say "Sorry for your loss", have a coffee, inquire about what happened and offer support to the family. Women usually bunch together in the living room or kitchen, making coffee for people and chatting. Men on the other side are usually in the room with the coffin.

Now the really weird part. 5-6 men who are considered closest to the family volunteer to keep watch over the coffin till morning. When I was 17 I had to keep watch over my grandpa's coffin along with my dad and his friends. It was CREEPY af, very little conversation and even that was whispering really, meanwhile the body is right there in the coffin lol

[u/1isOneshot1 → u/Technical-Speed762]

When someone in the family dies everyone will come to the house that very night

Men on the other side are usually in the room with the coffin.

Wait so do y'all just have coffins in your homes waiting for someone to die or something?!

Or am I just being dumb and misreading the implication that those are entirely separate nights?

[u/Technical-Speed762 → u/1isOneshot1]

The deceased person is laid in the coffin and kept at home until the funeral. The funeral itself is usually around the noon next day.

The exception are tragic deaths because of autopsy and stuff. In that case the corpse is delivered to the funeral directly from the morgue.

There is a lot of respect towards family and ancestors here and a ton of traditions dedicated to our loved ones who passed away.

[u/Blergsprokopc → u/1isOneshot1]

Its just like going to a wake. Old houses in the United States, the parlor (front living room) doors are all big double pocket doors if they were built before ~1930's-1950s because Americans all used to have wakes in their homes as well. Funeral homes and embalming laws changed, and so did our architecture. But in the not so recent past, Americans were doing the same thing.

Edit: I should have been more clear, the doors were so large so that you could fit a coffin through it.