They also dealt with death from infection, commonplace wife beating, lack of running water, all sorts of other things that people these days don't just bend over and take without protest.

You can't just plop people down in a situation that's analogous to something in the past and say "just deal, your ancestors did". Well you can but they'll probable just deal with you.

I live in a Calgary, which has some of the worst winters on Earth. People always gathered during winter. Yea, they didn't do it daily but they did it as often as possible. Precisely because social isolation is literally the worst possible punishment for humans.

Why do you think northern countries all celebrate Christmas?