Question About My Grandma’s Traditions

I don’t remember very much anymore because I was young when these happened. So… my family is catholic. When my great grandmother died, they had a wake, memorial service, funeral, and then also had a celebration of her life at her house. But when I went to my grandma’s house shortly after, she had all the chairs up on the tables, and the paintings & mirrors covered. The only places they really had to sit were stools in the kitchen. I asked her what it was about, and she said it was related to her mom dying, and that things will be back to how they were in a week or so.

I didnt think much of it after that, aside from passing thoughts of it not being something I’d ever heard of. But I’ve been considering converting to Judaism, and realized a while ago that this sounds somewhat similar to shiva. Then I remembered other things my grandma told me, like about how she’d tie a red string on her children’s cribs as a sign of protection.

I’m not sure how to parse my question, but does it seem similar to jewish tradition? I’ve never heard of this happening in catholicism (or christianity in general), and idk where else it’d come from. I’ve begun to look into her family history, and her maiden name is german/jewish; i also found a decent amount of common relatives who have german/jewish surnames (I dont know them, so i dont know if they’re jewish). I’m taking it with a grain of salt, but I’m still curious. I kinda feel a bit ridiculous for it, since my family are staunch catholics. Am I reading into this too much?