"On the first day of the Waiting Hand, the last five days of the old year, the portals of Ar, includingeven that of the House of Cernus, had been painted white, and in many of the low-caste homes had been sealed with pitch, not to be opened until the first day of En'Kara. Almost all doors, including that of the House of Cernus, had nailed to them some branches of the Brak Bush, the leaves of which, when chewed, have a purgative effect. It is thought that the pitch and the branches of the Brak Bush discourage entry of bad luck into the houses of the citizens."

Book 5, Assassin of Gor, page 211 ~¤~

"The doors are painted green and the pitch washed away, and the branches of the Brak Bush burned in a small ceremony on the threshold."

Book 5, Assassin of Gor, page 211 ~¤~