Korea used to have something similar to this phenomenon, although it wasn’t for the funeral. When the oldest man (probably the grandfather of a big family) has his 60th birthday, the entire family had to celebrate with basically throwing a days-long party. It was like a family duty for the rest of the family, and it was embedded into the culture so deeply so they wouldn’t simply think about the alternative of having a small one. Other elders in the local community would say “well done” only when the party was big enough. After the big celebration, the rest of the family would sit on a massive debt, which couldn’t be reimbursed with their earnings for a foreseeable future. The old man dies, and the family lives along with the agony of the debt. It used to be the case until Korea became an industrial country and a lot more people started having more than 60 yrs of life. My mom still talks about what it used to look like in those old days.

In Mexico you have quincenaras with like 500 people and a dress that's worn for 1 day that costs like $2,000.

Sounds like an Indian wedding ... upper-middle class indians now spend around Rs. 50 lakhs (around USD 55,555) for a wedding here in South India.

So it was just the head of the family?

What if there were several of these birthday parties in succession due to siblings dying?

Any lefty here who knits with your right hand and crochets with your left hand? I do :D although I do continental knitting.