There's no such thing as a party crasher in Nigeria.
If you go to any wedding, funeral, party, anything, no matter if the person knows you or if you heard about the party from a friend's cousin's friend's uncle, YOU CANNOT BE TURNED DOWN! You can come and walk right in without an invitation or anything, and not only will you get a seat, but you'll get a whole meal and drinks just like the rest! In Nigeria, you can't turn people down at parties, it's just a very impolite thing to do. Why is this? Well, I don't exactly know, but I think it's because Nigerians have a very strong sense of community, and at some points it feels like everybody knows each other. Like for example, a Nigerian might come up to you with this Nigerian woman and say, "have you met my sister?" You're friendly and everything, say hello and all that stuff, and then, a few days later, you find out that the woman that you just met wasn't even the guy's sister! It was an acquaintance of his, and they had no blood relations whatsoever. A Nigerian will call anyone that he knows his "brother" or "sister,"; sometimes if it is someone of higher status, "uncle" or "auntie." And they are nowhere near to being your siblings or relatives! You see, the names are a way of showing respect I think, so that's why they're used; but it can get pretty confusing when you can't tell whether Mr. Nigerian is really brothers with this new guy or not!
Signing off,
The Traveler
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