Why do we burn Santa Clause here on NYE?

I was born & brought up in Northern India. I was surprised to see this Santa Clause burning here on NYE. I was told it's a symbol of burning the old & looking forward to new for the new year. Does anyone know the orgin stoy of this, why do we burn Santa Clause for this? Should we not burn something that is symbolic to bad or old memory etc? Why burn the poor old good Santa? This sounds a lot like burning Ravan on Dusherra in North, & someone tried to copy it.