Wicker man

The primary evidence for this practice is a sentence by Roman general Julius Caesar in his Commentary on the Gallic War (1st century BC),[1] which modern scholarship has linked to an earlier Greek writer, Posidonius.

In the mid-1st century BC, Caesar wrote in his Commentary on the Gallic War that a large wickerwork figure with limbs was filled with living men and set on fire.

[3] Also in the 1st century BC, Greek historian Diodorus Siculus wrote in Bibliotheca historica that the Celts sacrificed human and animal captives by burning them on huge pyres along with the first fruits.

[12] Some modern historians and archaeologists stress that the ancient Greco-Roman accounts should be viewed with caution, as Greeks and Romans "had good reason to dislike a long-term enemy" and it may have benefited them to "transmit any bizarre and negative information" about the Celts.

[16] In Badalona (Catalonia), and within the framework of the local Major Festival in May (Festes de Maig), every year a sizeable wooden figure representing a devil is burnt.

The decoration of each statue is themed depending on the current political and social main topics of that year and is chosen by popular vote through a public contest.