Wicker Man
A wicker man is burned as part of neo-pagan festivities, especially Bealtaine, a rite of spring. Wicker men are tall, anthropomorphic wooden structures, woven from flexible sticks such as those of willow as used in wicker furniture and fencing.
In popular culture, a wicker man may be expected to contain sacrificial livestock or persons, as in the 1973 cult film, The Wicker Man. There is little evidence for such extravagances in reality, beyond a single account of Druid rituals recorded by Julius Caesar, which, as the leader of their enemy, writing for his supporters back in Rome, may have just been sensationalist blood libel. Fire rituals in most cultures are associated with simple purification, and the burning of a human effigy is typically intended to create a messenger to carry a community's prayers to its favored deity.
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