The Broken Hourglass - Ringing in the New Year @ Official Site

Planewalker's The Broken Hourglass site has a lore/story update that tells how the Tolmiran Empire rings in the New Year:

In the cities and villages of the Empire, the New Year is celebrated shortly before the spring equinox--what we would call March 1. Tolmiran traditions include:

- "Freeing the Old Year." In order to purge the old year and welcome in the new, Tolmirans often leave all of their doors and windows open all night, and employ pots, pans, and crude fireworks in order to shoo the demons and spirits of the old year on their way. Lighting streets and homes as brightly as possible is a newer tradition accompanying many New Year celebrations. Overnight illumination was originally reserved for a minor state holiday and had nothing to do with the change of the calendar, but as burglars began taking greater advantage of the "open-door" policy, larger cities subtly shifted the bright night to New Year's.