A wicker man was supposedly a large wicker statue used by druids, who were priests in ancient Celtic religion, for burning humans and animals as sacrifices. The main evidence for this practice comes from a statement by Julius Caesar in his book Commentary on the Gallic War (1st century BC). Scholars today believe Caesar’s account may have been based on earlier writings by a Greek writer named Posidonius.
Some remains from ancient times suggest that Celtic people may have performed human sacrifices. However, ancient Greek and Roman writings about this are now viewed with caution, as modern scholars think these sources might have shared strange or negative stories about the Celts to support their own goals.
The British horror movie The Wicker Man (1973) introduced the idea of the wicker man to modern culture. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, some modern pagan festivals, such as Burning Man, have included burning a wicker man without any sacrifices. This image has also appeared in music and art.
Ancient accounts
Other Roman writers from that time wrote about human and animal sacrifices among the Celts, but only Julius Caesar and the Greek geographer Strabo mentioned the wicker man as a way the druids of Gaul performed sacrifices. In the mid-1st century BC, Caesar wrote in his book about the Gallic War that a large wicker figure with limbs was filled with living people and burned. He said criminals were often chosen as victims, but innocent people might also be burned if no criminals were available. Later, Strabo wrote in his Geographica that people and animals were burned in a large wooden and straw figure, though he did not clearly say if the victims were alive when burned. He also noted that the ashes were thought to help crops grow.
In the 1st century BC, the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus wrote in his Bibliotheca historica that the Celts burned human and animal captives on large pyres along with the first fruits of the harvest. Some scholars believe Diodorus and Strabo may have learned about these practices from the earlier Greek historian Posidonius, whose writings no longer exist.
In the 1st century AD, the Roman writer Lucan wrote about human sacrifices to the Gaulish gods Esus, Teutates, and Taranis. A later commentary on Lucan, called the Commenta Bernensia, added that sacrifices to Taranis were burned inside a wooden container.
Archaeological evidence shows that some Celtic people performed human sacrifices, though this was rare. There is also evidence of Celtic animal sacrifices, sometimes by burning. Some modern historians and archaeologists say the ancient Greek and Roman accounts should be treated carefully, as Greeks and Romans may have had reasons to dislike the Celts and might have exaggerated or invented negative details to make the Celts seem like "barbarians."
Modern
There are records of large wicker figures being burned in France during the 18th and 19th centuries. Wilhelm Mannhardt noted that a wicker giant was burned each Midsummer Eve in Brie. Until 1743, a large wicker figure shaped like a soldier or warrior was burned every July 3 on the Rue aux Ours in Paris, while the crowd sang "Salve Regina." In Luchon, located in the Pyrenees, snakes were burned alive inside a tall wicker column decorated with leaves and flowers on Midsummer Eve. Young men with torches danced around the burning column, and townspeople and clergy sang hymns. An English observer who watched the ceremony in 1890 described the figure as "shaped like a mummy" and estimated it was about 20 feet (6.1 meters) tall.
The British horror film The Wicker Man (1973) introduced the image of the wicker man to modern popular culture. In recent years, a wicker man (without human or animal sacrifices) has been burned at some neopagan ceremonies, folk festivals, and events like Burning Man in the United States and the former Wickerman Festival in Scotland.
In Northern Portugal, the traditional Caretos Festival ends with the burning of a large human effigy with horns, while young people run around it.
In Badalona, Catalonia, during the local Major Festival in May (Festes de Maig), a large wooden figure representing a devil is burned by locals on Saint Anastasius' Night (May 10), known as "Cremada del Dimoni" in Catalan. Each year, the statue's design is based on current political or social themes, chosen through a public contest. This tradition, documented since the 18th century, was revived in its modern form shortly after the Spanish Civil War in 1940.