Editing Wicker man

{{EngvarB|date=July 2023}}
{{short description|Effigy for burning in pagan ritual}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:The Wicker Man of the Druids crop.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|An 18th-century illustration of a wicker man. Engraving from ''A Tour in Wales'' written by [[Thomas Pennant]].]]

A '''wicker man''' was purportedly a large [[wicker]] statue in which the [[druid]]s (priests of [[Celtic paganism]]) [[Human sacrifice|sacrificed humans]] and [[Animal sacrifice|animals]] by burning. The primary evidence for this practice is a sentence by [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] general [[Julius Caesar]] in his ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico|Commentary on the Gallic War]]'' (1st century BC),<ref>"Others have figures of vast size, the limbs of which formed of osiers they fill with living men, which being set on fire, the men perish enveloped in the flames." {{cite book |last=Caesar |first=Julius |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10657/pg10657-images.html#id00302 |title=Caesar's Commentaries (De Bello Gallico, 6.16) |year=1915 |translator-last=Macdevitt |translator-first=W. A. |access-date=6 July 2020}}  </ref> which modern scholarship has linked to an earlier [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] writer, [[Posidonius]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L9gMHcZCi1IC&pg=PA187 |last=Ellis |first=Peter Berresford |title=The Ancient World of the Celts |pages=64, 184, 187 |publisher=Barnes & Noble |year=1998 |isbn=0-7607-1716-8 }}</ref><ref name="Davidson">{{Cite book |last=Davidson |first=Hilda Ellis |author-link=Hilda Ellis Davidson |title=Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions |date=1988 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |page=60}}</ref>

There is some archaeological evidence of human sacrifice among [[Celts|Celtic peoples]], although rare.<ref name="koch687-690">{{Cite book |last=Koch |first=John |author-link=John T. Koch |title=The Celts: History, Life, and Culture |date=2012 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1598849646 |pages=687–690}}</ref> The ancient Greco-Roman sources are now regarded somewhat sceptically, considering it is likely they "were eager to transmit any bizarre and negative information" about the Celts, as it benefited them to do so.<ref>{{cite book |first=Peter S. |last=Wells |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vru5XzGXkuAC |title=The Barbarians Speak: How the Conquered Peoples Shaped Roman Europe |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1999 |pages=59–60 |isbn=0-691-08978-7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1291/did-the-celts-burn-human-sacrifices-in-a-huge-wicker-man/ |title=Did The Celts Burn Human Sacrifices In A Huge 'Wicker Man'? |work=[[The Straight Dope]] |year=1998 }}</ref>

The British horror film ''[[The Wicker Man (1973 film)|The Wicker Man]]'' (1973) brought the wicker man into contemporary [[popular culture]]. In the latter half of the 20th and early 21st centuries, a wicker man (without human or animal sacrifices) has been burned at some [[neopagan]] ceremonies and festivals such as [[Burning Man]].<ref name="Jordan">{{cite encyclopedia |title=The Body |encyclopedia=Religion and American Cultures |year=2003 |last=Jordan |first=Mark |editor=Gary Laderman |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=341}}</ref> It has also been referenced in music and art.

==Ancient accounts==
[[File:Myths and legends; the Celtic race (1910) (14781091124).jpg|thumb|Illustration of human sacrifices in Gaul from ''Myths and legends; the Celtic race'' (1910) by [[T. W. Rolleston]]]]

While other [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] writers of the time described human and animal sacrifice among the [[Celts]], only the Roman general Julius Caesar and the Greek geographer [[Strabo]] mention the wicker man as one of many ways the [[druids]] of [[Gaul]] performed sacrifices. In the mid-1st century BC, Caesar wrote in his ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico|Commentary on the Gallic War]]'' that a large wickerwork figure with limbs was filled with living men and set on fire.<ref name="Davidson"/> He says criminals were the preferred victims, but innocent people might also be burned if there were no criminals.<ref>''De Bello Gallico'' [http://thelatinlibrary.com/caesar/gall6.shtml#16 6.16]</ref> Writing slightly later, Strabo says in his ''[[Geographica]]'' that men and animals were burned in a large figure of wood and straw, although he does not make clear whether the victims were burned alive. He adds that the ashes were believed to help the crops grow.<ref name="Davidson"/> 

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 [[pyre]]s along with the [[First Fruits|first fruits]].<ref name="Voigt">{{cite encyclopedia |title=The violent ways of Galatian Gordion |encyclopedia=The Archaeology of Violence: Interdisciplinary Approaches |year=2013 |last=Voigt |first=Mary |editor=Sarah Ralph |publisher=[[SUNY Press]] |pages=220–221}}</ref> It has been suggested that both Diodorus<ref name="Voigt"/> and Strabo<ref name="Davidson"/> got their information from the earlier Greek historian [[Posidonius]], whose work has not survived.<ref name="Voigt"/>

In the 1st century AD, Roman writer [[Lucan]] mentioned human sacrifices to the Gaulish gods [[Esus]], [[Teutates]] and [[Taranis]]. In a [[Scholia|commentary]] on Lucan—the ''[[Commenta Bernensia]]'' dating from the 4th century and later—an unnamed author added that sacrifices to Taranis were [[Death by burning|burned]] in a wooden container.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maier |first=Bernhard |author-link=Bernhard Maier |title=Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture |date=1997 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |page=36}}</ref><ref>Mircea Eliade, ''A History of Religious Ideas'', Vol. 2. University of Chicago Press (1982). § 171.</ref>

There is some archaeological evidence of human sacrifice among [[Celts|Celtic peoples]], although rare.<ref name="koch687-690"/> There is also evidence of Celtic animal sacrifice, sometimes by burning.<ref name="Green94-96">{{Cite book |last=Green |first=Miranda |author-link=Miranda Aldhouse-Green |title=Animals in Celtic Life and Myth |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |pages=94–96}}</ref> 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. Their desire to depict Celtic peoples as "[[barbarians]]" may have "led to exaggeration or even fabrications".<ref name="Voigt"/>

==Modern==

There are accounts of large wickerwork figures being burnt in France during the 18th and 19th centuries. [[Wilhelm Mannhardt]] recorded that a wickerwork giant was burnt each [[Midsummer]] Eve in [[Brie (region)|Brie]].<ref name="Frazer">[[James George Frazer|Frazer, James]] (1922). [https://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/frazer/gb06402.htm Chapter 64. The Burning of Human Beings in the Fires, Section 2. The Burning of Men and Animals in the Fires]. ''[[The Golden Bough]]''. [[Internet Sacred Text Archive]].</ref> Until 1743, a large wickerwork figure of a soldier or warrior was burnt every 3 July on the Rue aux Ours in Paris, as the crowd sang "[[Salve Regina]]".<ref name="Frazer"/> At [[Bagnères-de-Luchon|Luchon]] in the [[Pyrenees]], snakes were burnt alive in a tall wickerwork column decked with leaves and flowers on Midsummer Eve. Young men with torches danced around the burning column, and the townsfolk and clergy sang hymns.<ref name="Frazer"/> An Englishman who watched the ceremony in 1890 said the figure was somewhat "shaped like a [[Egyptian mummy|mummy]]" and stood about {{convert|20|ft|abbr=on}} tall.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davidson |first=Hilda Ellis |author-link=Hilda Ellis Davidson |title=Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions |date=1988 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |page=60}}</ref>

The British horror film ''[[The Wicker Man (1973 film)|The Wicker Man]]'' (1973) brought the wicker man into modern [[popular culture]].<ref name="Jordan"/> In recent times, a wicker man (without human or animal sacrifices) has been burnt at some [[neopagan]] ceremonies, folk festivals, as well as festivals such as [[Burning Man]] in the United States<ref name="Jordan"/> and the former [[Wickerman Festival]] in Scotland.<ref>[http://www.thewickermanfestival.co.uk/gallery.html Gallery] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029051115/http://www.thewickermanfestival.co.uk/gallery.html |date=2012-10-29 }}, Thewickermanfestival.co.uk</ref>

In [[Norte Region, Portugal|Northern Portugal]], the traditional [[Careto|Caretos Festival]] ends with the burning of a gigantic human effigy with horns while young people run around it.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.caretosdepodence.pt|title=Caretos de Podence|website=www.caretosdepodence.pt|language=pt-PT|access-date=2017-04-11}}</ref>

In [[Badalona]] ([[Catalonia]]), and within the framework of the local Major Festival in May ([[:ca:Festes de Maig (Badalona)|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. Documented at least since the 18th century, the modern version of this old tradition began just after the [[Spanish Civil War]] in 1940.
<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremada_del_Dimoni|title=Cremada del dimoni|website=ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremada_del_Dimoni|language=catalan|access-date=2024-06-02}}</ref>{{Circular reference|date=August 2024}}

<gallery>
File:Burning wicker man by Bruce McAdam.jpg|Wicker man on fire at the Archaeolink Prehistory Park, [[Oyne]], Aberdeenshire, Scotland
File:A Neopagan Wicker Man.JPG|A lifesize modern pagan wicker man, in south east London, England
File:001132 Der brennende Mann-Brauch (Wikcker man)2013 in Wola Sękowa, Sanok.JPG|Wickerman Event 2013 in [[Wola Sękowa]], Poland
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Beltane]]
* [[Bonfire]]
* [[Brazen bull]]
* [[Burning of Judas]]
* [[Giubiana]]
* [[Guy Fawkes Night]]
* [[Willow Man]]
* [[Zozobra]]
* [[Burning Man]]

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}


==External links==
{{Commonscatinline}}
* Caesar, ''[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Caes.+Gal.+toc De Bello Gallico]'', English translation by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn (1869); Latin text edition, from the [[Perseus Project]]
* [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=3623 Project Gutenberg text for Frazer's The Golden Bough]
*In Noita on Lake Island ''[https://noita.wiki.gg/wiki/Lake#Abandoned_Hut]''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wicker Man}}
[[Category:Wicker man| ]]
[[Category:Celtic mythology]]
[[Category:Druidry]]
[[Category:Rituals]]
[[Category:Modern pagan beliefs and practices]]
[[Category:Human sacrifice in folklore and mythology]]
[[Category:Traditions involving fire]]
[[Category:Statues of men]]