He Yinggui – Representative Inheritor of Yi Torch Festival Project in Zixi Town, Chuxiong

Name: He Yinggui
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Yi
Date of Birth: 1970
Place of Birth: Zhuangfang Village, Chahe Village Committee, Zixi Town, Chuxiong City, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province.

He Yinggui is a representative inheritor of the Torch Festival of the Yi ethnic group.（楚雄州楚雄市紫溪镇彝族火把节项目代表性传承人 – 何应贵）

The Torch Festival is an important traditional festival of the Yi ethnic group, serving as a stage for the inheritance of Yi primitive religious culture and a platform for the concentrated display of Yi song and dance, costumes, and food culture. The priests play an indispensable role in it, serving as important organizers and implementers of the entire Torch Festival activities. He Yinggui was born into a prominent family of “Xiangtong,” the important presider of Yi primitive religious rituals, as the 11th generation inheritor of the “Xiangtong” priest. Since the age of 7, he has been studying ritual ceremonies with his father, experiencing various ritual occasions firsthand. Through learning by observation, oral transmission, and practical experience, he quickly mastered the Yi primitive religious ritual ceremonies.

For over 20 years, he has independently presided over hundreds of ritual activities and organized the “Xiangtong” performance team to participate in the grand Torch Festival activities of the Yi ethnic group dozens of times. He is proficient in sheepskin drum dance and possesses folk performance materials and hexagram books passed down from his ancestors. He has more than ten apprentices, among whom disciples such as Luo Jinhua, He Qiaoshou, Li Wanqiao, He Changshun, and He Zhiqiang have certain prestige locally.

He has organized highly distinctive sheepskin drum dance performances on multiple occasions, receiving high praise. He is an important force in inheriting Torch Festival ritual activities and has made active contributions to the protection and inheritance of Yi Torch Festival culture.

http://www.ynich.cn/view-ml-13111-3177.html