re On Upshirin and bonfires

Question

I personally did not follow the custom of Upsherin for my son as it is not in my family to do so. And we also try to avoid those customs that are not based on actual Halacha. However, I find some of the posts by the readers to be quite bizarre. Does Eli really believe that the Ari Z"L was copying a muslim custom when he waited for his son's third year to give him his first haircut. Even if the moslem custom preceded the Ari (did it?) it is impossible for anyone to believe that. I was just wondering- Perhaps he would think that we take a lulav on Succos because of the Christian holiday of Palm Sunday. Or that we celebrate a Pesach Seder because of the Last Supper. Or maybe a women goes into the mikvah because of those that baptize? Interesting Anecdote; I once asked an "A Great Person" about a certain popular custom. He made fun of the custom and those that follow it. Since this was extremely out of character for him, I was very bothered and asked him to explain. He explained to me that in truth - although there is no basis in Halacha for this custom or many others - there is nothing wrong per-se with following them. The problem is that many customs became "Yeharog Val YaAvor" while "Ikkar Halacha" is blatantly being ignored. This is the great problem of those customs.