Pagan Community Notes: Week of May 28, 2026

The Green Man? 

Carving of a green man, likely Alkborough, North Lincolnshire (Simon Garbutt, public domain

LONDON— A Church of England court has ruled that a widow may place the image of the Green Man on her late husband’s gravestone after an earlier objection claimed the symbol was “unchristian.”

Dr. Polly Stirzaker sought permission to include the Green Man on the memorial for her husband, Roy Stirzaker, in the churchyard of St. Edward’s Church in Kempley, Gloucestershire. The symbol was chosen to reflect her husband’s lifelong love of folk music, Morris dancing, and traditional English folklore.

Initial permission for the design was denied in 2023 after the Priest-in-Charge of St Edward’s expressed concern that the Green Man was not an appropriate Christian image for consecrated ground. According to reports, clergy feared the symbol could offend some parishioners because of its modern association with Paganism and nature spirituality.

The dispute ultimately reached the Diocese of Gloucester’s consistory court, where Chancellor Mark Ruffell reconsidered the case after consulting historians and theologians specializing in medieval religious art. Expert testimony noted that Green Man carvings have appeared in churches and cathedrals across Britain for centuries, including Gloucester Cathedral and Exeter Cathedral.

Scholars Dr. Helen Hall and Professor Javier Garcia Oliva argued that medieval Christians often understood the Green Man within a Christian symbolic framework connected to seasonal renewal, resurrection, and the cycle of death and rebirth reflected in Christian theology.

The Chancellor concluded that, although some modern interpretations attempt to associate the Green Man with Pagan traditions, the historical evidence for such claims was not definitive. He acknowledged that the symbol might prompt conversation among visitors to churches or churchyards, but noted that contemporary scholarship, along with the Green Man’s inclusion on the invitation to the 2023 coronation of King Charles III, made it unlikely to cause significant offence or distress.

As Christianity spread through Europe, the Church frequently adopted and adapted existing cultural symbols rather than completely erasing them. This practice of syncretism was supposedly intended to help local populations transition to the new faith.

In his ruling, the Chancellor accepted that the Green Man could be understood within a Christian symbolic tradition, describing in a somewhat revisionist manner that as “a representation of Christ as the new Adam surrounded by the abundance of life that he brings.”

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Guardians of the Forests

Amazon – Brazil, 2011. ©Neil Palmer/CIAT

BRASILIA — Traditional and Indigenous communities across Brazil have formed a new alliance to defend the rapidly disappearing Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica), one of the world’s most endangered biodiversity regions. Reported by Brazilian outlet Revista Fórum, the newly launched “Alliance of Traditional Peoples and Communities Guardians of the Atlantic Forest” is described as the first coalition uniting diverse traditional communities specifically around protection of the biome.

The alliance brings together Indigenous peoples, quilombolas, caiçaras, caboclos, artisanal fishers, shellfish gatherers, and Afro-Brazilian terreiro communities from multiple regions of Brazil. Organizers frame the effort as both an environmental and cultural movement responding to deforestation, mining, industrial development, pollution, urban expansion, and continuing threats to traditional lands and lifeways.

The Atlantic Forest once stretched across large portions of Brazil’s coastline and interior, but only an estimated 12 percent of its original vegetation remains. Despite centuries of logging, agriculture, and urbanization, the forest still contains extraordinary biodiversity and serves as a critical water source for approximately 145 million people.

The coalition argues that environmental protection cannot be separated from the defense of the communities who have historically lived within and stewarded these ecosystems. Many participating groups emphasize forms of traditional ecological knowledge rooted in sustainable agriculture, artisanal fishing, forest management, and spiritual relationships with the land.

Particularly notable is the inclusion of Afro-Brazilian terreiro communities, whose religious traditions often maintain sacred relationships with forests, waters, and local ecosystems. Organizers describe the alliance as an effort not only to preserve biodiversity but also to defend cultural memory, spiritual traditions, and territorial rights increasingly threatened by political and economic pressures.

The initiative reflects broader global conversations surrounding Indigenous sovereignty, environmental justice, and the growing recognition that traditional communities frequently serve as some of the most effective guardians of threatened ecosystems.