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Granger, one of the three 5-and-a-half year-old male cheetahs that returned to the National Zoo this weekend. Photo by Mehgan Murphy, courtesy of the National Zoo.

While many of you were taking planes, trains and automobiles to journey home this past holiday weekend, three National Zoo cheetahs did likewise. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, brothers Draco, Granger and Zabini—brothers all named after characters in the Harry Potter books—returned from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Cheetah Science Facility in Front Royal, Virginia, and joined Tumai, a female, on public display at the Zoo.

The wild cheetah population is dwindling to disturbing lows—somewhere between 12,000 to 15,000 in all—and the Zoo moves their animals between DC and the Virginia research facility to further research and hopefully bolster their numbers a bit. So be sure to swing by while you can see these four svelte felines while they’re on display. And before heading out, bone up on some fun cheetah facts and learn about some of the Zoo’s animal breeding tactics.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens by John White Alexander, 1912 or 1913 National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain, was born in Florida, Missouri, o175 years ago today. Author of such literary classics as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Twain‘s famous wit makes him just as relevant today as he was a century ago.

“I remember reading The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County as a 7th grader,”  says curator Frank Goodyear of the National Portrait Gallery. Though many may have been introduced to Twain through their school’s curriculum, his works persist because of their  strong voice and whimsical sense of story.  Twain is “pioneering because he brought dialects into literature,” Goodyear continued. He had a “keen interest in human foibles” and was able to “see through to the real shortcomings, anxieties and hypocrisy” that make his characters so believable.

This intimacy created with his readers might explain the runaway success of his newly released and unexpurgated autobiography (versions of which have been published before in 1924, 1940 and 1959), but this one was released in its entirety 100 years after his death, as Twain requested.

Twain himself spoke in great detail about death:

“I think we never become really and genuinely our entire and honest selves until we are dead–and not then until we have been dead years and years. People ought to start dead, and they would be honest so much earlier.” – As quoted in Mark Twain in Eruption by Bernard DeVoto

And of his own death:

“It has been reported that I was seriously ill—it was another man; dying—it was another man; dead—the other man again. . . As far as I can see, nothing remains to be reported, except that I have become a foreigner. When you hear it, don’t you believe it. And don’t take the trouble to deny it. Merely just raise the American flag on our house in Hartford and let it talk.” – Letter to Frank E. Bliss, 11/4/1897

Perhaps with this autobiography, new facets of the seemingly transparent, yet very complex writer can come to light. “He’s human and his characters are human,” says Goodyear. “He’s genuine and authentic. . . everyone loves Mark Twain.”

The Poet (c. 1962) by Mauricio Lasansky. Image courtesy of the American Art Museum.

Monday, November 29: IMAX

Baby, it’s cold outside—so come on in and enjoy an IMAX movie. Theaters are located in the Natural History Museum, the Air and Space Museum and the Udvar-Hazy Center. In addition to short films—like “Dinosaurs” and “Legends of Flight”—catch a screening of the full-length feature “The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest.” Check out the full film schedule and to buy tickets online. Tickets may also be purchased at the IMAX box office at the museums.

Tuesday, November 30: Lost and Found: The Lesbian and Gay Presence in the Archives of American Art

Curator Jonathan Weinberg will walk visitors through the exhibition Lost and Found: The Lesbian and Gay Presence in the Archives of American Art and discuss the trove of artifacts on display. Free. Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery, Reynolds Center, 2:00 PM.

Wednesday, December 1: Pop-up Artist Chuck Fischer

Learn how a paper engineer plies his craft and creates delightful pop-up books for readers of all ages by way of artist Chuck Fischer. After the discussion, Fischer will be available to sign copies of his new pop-up book Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol. Free. American History Museum, 12:00-1:00 PM.

Thursday, December 2: Poetas Argentinos en Estados Unidos y Canadá: Celebrando las Raíces

The Hirshhorn and the Smithsonian Latino Center offer you an evening of readings by some of the most eminent Argentinean poets, authors and literary critics living in the United States and Canada. Free. Hirshhorn, 7:00-8:00 PM.

Friday, December 3: Linda Linda Linda

Nobuhiro Yamashita’s dryly witty films have earned him comparisons to director Jim Jarmusch and producer Aki Kaurismaki, but his droll portraits of provincial life constitute a singular vision of contemporary Japan.

The award-winning “Linda Linda Linda” tells the story of an exchange student who forms an all-girl band with three of her classmates to perform at their school’s rock festival. Told with gentle humor and some fabulously catchy music—including instrumental tracks composed by the Smashing Pumpkins’ James Iha—this movie was hailed by the New York Times as one of 2005′s “most unexpected pleasures.” And be sure to check out the movie trailer. The film will be presented in Japanese with English subtitles. Free. Freer, 7:00 PM.

For updates on all exhibitions and events, visit our companion site goSmithsonian.com

34 cent Cornucopia Single (2001). Image courtesy of the Postal Museum.

Special Holiday Hours

Closed 11/25: The Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York City will be closed, but all the DC museums will be open regular hours!

11/26- 11/27: The Natural History Museum are the American History Museum are open 10-7:30.

11/26 -11/28: The Air and Space Museum is open 10-7:30; The Udvar-Hazy Center is open 10-6:30; The American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery are open 11:30-7.

Thursday, November 25: Hok-noth-da? (Did you hear?)—Listen! I Have a Story to Tell

That’s right—the Smithsonian is open to visitors today. And what better way to walk off a Thanksgiving meal—or work up an appetite for one—than by touring the museums? If you’re looking for fun for the younger persons in your family, take them to story time at the American Indian Museum where a staff member will read books by or about Native Americans. Free. American Indian Museum, 1:30 PM.

Friday, November 26: Native Dance: Acoma Inter-Cultural Dancers

Learn about the Acoma Pueblo’s social dance traditions. Watch performances by the Acoma Inter-Cultural Dancers as they pay homage to nature and the elements, and sustain the Acoma way of life. Free. American Indian Museum, 12:30-1:30 PM.

Saturday, November 27: Book Signing: Larry Bird

American History curator Larry Bird takes takes you on a tour of what may be the most famous dollhouse in America in his book The Miniature World of Faith Bradford: The Doll’s House. Bird will be available to sign copies of his book. And also be sure to see the house for yourself at the American History Museum. Free. American History Museum, 2:00-4:00 PM.

Sunday, November 28: IMAX

Baby, it’s cold outside—so come on in and enjoy an IMAX movie. Theaters are located in the Natural History Museum, the Air and Space Museum and the Udvar-Hazy Center. In addition to short films—like “Dinosaurs” and “Legends of Flight”—you can catch a screening of the full-length feature “The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest.” Check out this site for a full film schedule and to buy tickets online. Tickets may also be purchased at the IMAX box office at the museums.

For updates on all exhibitions and events, visit our companion site goSmithsonian.com

Faith Mitchell will be speaking about her book, Hoodoo Medicine, this Saturday at the Anacostia Community Museum.

Medical anthropologist Dr. Faith Mitchell will be speaking at 1 PM this Saturday at the Anacostia Community Museum, in conjuction with the museum’s current exhibit, “Word, Shout, Song: Lorenzo Down Turner Connecting Communities Through Language,” Mitchell, currently Vice President of Grantmakers in Health, a medical aid organization, spent time in the Sea Islands researching the herbal remedies of the Gullah people. On Saturday, Mitchell will discuss some of the medicinal plants she learned about, how they’re used and how they became integrated into the culture of the South Carolina Sea Islands. I spoke with Mitchell about her research.

Why is there such a strong  herbal tradition among the Gullah?

I think it’s because of the history of those islands. Because first the slave population and then the black population was so [large] that they retained the use of traditional medicines, even when other parts of the South stopped using them as much. Also, because they were so isolated from doctors and hospitals, it kind of reinforced the use of the medicine there so that comparing the Sea Islands with some other parts of the South, it wouldn’t necessarily be that the plants were different, but the tradition was stronger.

What are a couple remedies that you found to be most interesting?

Elderberry. It’s something that the Gullah use in the Sea Islands, but it’s also used by the Native Americans, and it’s also used in Europe. People use it for different things, which I think, just in terms of the botanical issues is always interesting. First of all, how do people even notice that plants are medicinal, and then the fact that they use them for different things, you kind of wonder, well how did they decide what they were going to use it for? In the Sea Islands, they use elderberry for sores, which you could imagine would be pretty common with people who are agricultural, whereas the Native Americans used elderberry as a pain killer. In Europe, they used it for wounds, but also for colds and also as a laxative. So a lot of different uses, but a good plant.

How do the Gullah use these plants?

Boil it and make it into a tea. Depending on the plant they would use different parts, the flower or the leaves, the bark or the root, but they usually do make it into a tea.

Did you test any of these Gullah herbal remedies?

I tested a few, you know a lot of them don’t taste that good, which is considered to be part of the effectiveness. If it’s bitter then it’s [supposed to be] better for  you.

What does the word “Hoodoo” mean in your book?

Along with these herbal medicines, there’s also a tradition of magical medicines that would be called voodoo in Louisiana, and actually the term “hoodoo” that is used in the title of my book is often used to refer to magic by the Gullah people and other parts of the South. So that was also something I was interested in. But it was much harder to find out about. Because even though people practice it, they don’t want to talk about it. Sometimes, the same people who are specialists in herbal medicine are also specialists in magical medicine, even though you have to find that out from somebody else.

The substances people use are really different. For magic, people use stuff like black cat bones, graveyard dust, fingernail clippings. That tradition really comes from West Africa. People will sell you stuff and they’ll say it’s black cat bone, but you don’t really know if it is or it isn’t, and in a sense you don’t really know if it’s working or not. It’s a very different frame of reference from a tea you’re drinking for a sore throat, and you can tell yourself whether it works. People use magic to change their luck, to get somebody to fall in love with them. So that tradition is there too.

I would have these indirect conversations with people. They would say, “Well, I don’t know anybody who does that stuff, and I don’t know what they use, but I hear that when you get hexed, you feel like there’s mice running up and down your skin, or you get bumps all over.” So I’d hear about it that way.