The nation’s official motto, “In God we trust,” has appeared on coins since the Civil War. The Pledge of Allegiance promises ...

In all interpretations, Holi is seen as a festive day to end conflicts, forgive the past and start a new season.

The Oscar nominee, who plays a hoodoo healer in “Sinners,” stops at a Brooklyn apothecary and reflects on pregnancy, learning Yoruba, and blessing Michael B. Jordan’s bag.

This story appears in the March 2011 issue of National Geographic magazine. The master spent his last day of life wrapped in a quilt stitched by his wife, his rasping, irregular breaths filling the ...