I thought you might get some flack for that, Beau.

But burning things ceremonially has quite a tradition to it - read here about the Whittlesea Straw Bear. After parading around the town dancing away, he's taken to a bonfire and solemnly burnt. Quite a moving experience. (mind, they let the fellow who dances round in side the bear get out for the actual burning.

The same thing happens to ritual objects at the end of lots of carnivals and suchlike.

And of course no bonfire on 5th November is complete without a Guy. These days Guy Fawkes tends to be seen as the hero of the occasion. (Down in Lewes in Sussex they burn the Pope - but that's another story.)