Igbo masks are made in many styles, and their distribution does not necessarily coincide with a matching set of beliefs concerning mask spirits. For example, the Okorosia masquerades of south-central Igboland share overall style features with the northern Igbo masks of the Nri-Awka area, such as the white-faced "Maiden-Spirit Mask" Agbogho mmuo but the belief in Okorosia water spirits is borrowed from the Niger Delta to the south where water spirits abound.
Okorosia masks are considered to be the messengers of Owu, a water deity found in the Niger Delta region. They descend from their homes in the clouds and appear on earth for a month every year at the peak of the rainy season. This fine old mask is a representation of one of the friendly and beautiful feminine spirits, Okorosia Nma, characterized by small, fine facial features. They dance in white attire while gesturing with fans or dance-paddles and about their waists are hung large brass bells. Their visual and behavioral opposites, the Okorosia Ojo, are ugly and fierce spirits with distorted features that contrast utterly with the small, finely-featured and symmetrical whiteface type seen here
Photograph by Bruce M. White, 2008