Awuru Odo Festival Nsukka

Awuru Odo Festival is the farewell theatrical performance marking the departure of the Odo, ancestral spirits believed by the northern Igbo of the Nsukka and Udi areas to return from the land of the dead every two years to visit their families. Timed around April, masked performers reenact the Odo spirits' visit and dramatize their sorrowful departure back to the spirit world.

Among the northern Igbo communities of the Nsukka and Udi areas in present-day Enugu State, the Odo are understood as the spirits of departed ancestors who return from the world of the dead to visit their living families, but unlike many other ancestor-masquerade traditions in Nigeria, this visitation follows a distinctive, extended biennial rhythm rather than a single annual appearance.