Understanding the Past to Solve Today’s Problems: Adaptability to Climate Change among Diverse African Populations

There is an old adage that goes, “Those who do not understand the past are doomed to repeat its mistakes.”  This rings true not only within historical contexts but others, as well, particularly concerning contemporary issues, such as contemporary climate change.  A group of scholars recently published their study wherein they successfully argued for a holistic understanding of the history of subsistence strategies in order to best aid contemporary societies.  They used African populations as their evidence.  These chose these populations not specifically due to the data available to analyze and test their ideas, but because contemporary African populations are most sensitive and impacted by modern climate change, necessitating a viable solution to the contemporary problems they are currently facing.

 

In their study Phelps et al. examined isotopic, ecological, and archaeological data from African populations that existed over the past 11,000 years.  They noted that near the beginning of this temporal span (as in 11,000 years ago) the African continent was much wetter and tropical, and over time it became drier and more arid.  By examining the isotopic data, which showed peoples’ diets over time, as well as archaeological data to help infer subsistence strategies of said people, they were able to identify how African populations were best able to sustain themselves in the face of climatic shifts. 

 

They ultimately reached the conclusion that those populations that were most resilient were those that utilized a mix of subsistence strategies, not just one.  Africa populations that engaged in a combination of farming, foraging and hunting, fishing, and herding/pastoralism were better able to survive during long periods of environmental changes and uncertainty. 

 

The reason this information is important is because it can be used to assist not only contemporary African populations but other populations across the world as climate change continues.  "If we want climate solutions and global environmental change solutions to work, they need to be rooted in an understanding of the way that people have been using available resources throughout time," said Phelps.  This makes sense as it acknowledges people’s familiarity with their own environments and ways of surviving within them without drastically transforming their ways of life during stressful periods.  It also draws upon successful strategies that worked in the past and most likely will continue to do so in the present, thereby allowing for informed decision making that will increase the likelihood of successful implementation.

 

References

Fowler, R. (2025, June 26). African societies survived climate shifts for millennia by diversifying how they lived. Phys.org.

Phelps, L. N., Davis, D. S., Chen, J. C., Moore, S., Mangut, C., Lehmann, C. E., & Douglass, K. (2025, June 20). Africa-wide diversification of livelihood strategies: Isotopic insights into Holocene human adaptations to climate change. One Earth.

 

Pacifying the Restless Dead: The Hungry Ghosts Festival

Figure 1: Hungry Ghosts Festival offerings at an altar (Source: China Travel)

 

There are specific occurrences that are consistent among all humans: for example, the need to eat, reproduction and child rearing, and death and dying.  While these are universal instances the reactions to these vary across cultural groups, leading to specific rituals, beliefs, values, and more.  This post will address one such example concerning coping with death and dying: the Hungry Ghosts Festival.

 

Among the Chinese, who observe the Lunar Calendar, there are specific celebrations associated with certain months.  The seventh lunar month is considered the Ghost Month because at the beginning of this month the dead are released from the underworld and left to roam free across the Earth.  During their time in the underworld the dead were deprived of food, affection, and other necessities, leading them to be wearing, hungry, and angry upon their arrival to dwell among the living.  This results in the Chinese practicing a series of rituals to appease the ghosts, of which the most important is the Hungry Ghosts Festival. 

 

The Hungry Ghosts Festival is celebrated in the middle of the Ghost Month, and in 2025 this specific festival falls on today’s date, September 6, 2025.  The Hungry Ghosts Festival can last one to several days, ultimately depending on the community’s resources.  If the community has excess money and resources the festival lasts longer than those communities with less.  The purpose of the Hungry Ghosts Festival is to provide offerings to appease the weary and angry dead to prevent them from enacting revenge or taking their anger out on the living.  

 

To appease the dead within individual homes the residents place their ancestral tablets on a table, along with burning incense and several fresh meals throughout the day.  Community members will also burn incense, light paper lanterns, and place food at specific monuments and locations of importance to the deceased (Figure 1).  At each location individuals will share information with the deceased, either asking for blessings or forgiveness depending on what news is shared.  Performances, including but not limited to operas, are performed to entertain the deceased.  A large feast is the pinnacle of the Hungry Ghosts Festival, with a place or two set aside and left empty for the ghosts.

 

The origins of this specific festival are tied back to Buddhism.  According to lore a young man’s mother died and she was punished in the underworld because she led a selfish and cruel life.  Following Buddhist doctrine the man was able to release his dead mother from her torment by chanting, singing, and making food offerings.  Over time the Hungry Ghosts Festival transformed to meet Chinese Daoist beliefs, and it is practiced in combination with the traditional Buddhist and newer Daoist traditions and values.  Unfortunately, due to changing cultural values among the Chinese fewer and fewer of them are celebrating the Hungry Ghosts Festival, leading it to be endanger of becoming a defunct cultural tradition. There are Chinese populations across the Asian continent that continue this tradition, however.

 

Works Cited

Chan, Selina Ching. "Moral Taste: Food for Ghosts in Hong Kong's Chaozhou Hungry Ghosts Festival." Journal of Chinese Dietary Culture (2017): 51-85. Print.

Chan, Selina Ching, and Shengdan Cai. "Preserving and exhibiting intangible cultural heritage via virtual museum: A case study of the Hungry Ghosts Festival in Hong Kong." The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences 48 (2023): 405-411.

China Highlights. Hungry Ghost Festival. 2025. Electronic. 8 July 2025.