Irish Stew

We don't want to rile stew connoisseurs but our blend has just about everything but the kitchen sink thrown in. Here, amid the chunks of potato, beef, cottage cheese, guacamole, jello and fatback, you'll find stories, limericks, and facts. But hey, if you find our sink, please let us know.

Boston's Irish want peace

March 17, 1996

For Irish-Americans, St. Patrick's Day represents an annual reaffirmation of community, an explosion of Celtic pride and even open season on self-parody. It is a time for the Irish and descendants of the Irish to celebrate their ethnic roots with parades and social gatherings all over the world.
-Full Story-

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Adams brings sober note to parade

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams' presence among the shamrocks and bagpipes at Saturday's St. Patrick's Day Parade put a serious spin on the annual celebration of all things Irish. "This parade appropriately is dedicated to peace, and that's what we have to be attempting to achieve," Adams said after attending Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. "We have to get the peace process restored with all speed."

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Oh, yeah. Watch out for the green snow.

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Bagpipes or Sinead O'Connor?

Both will do this St. Patrick's Day

From Correspondent Bill Tush

The sound of bagpipes is as much a part of St. Patrick's Day tradition as hoisting a mug or two at McSorley's Ale House in New York, where Abraham Lincoln lifted a few in the 1860s. But St. Patrick's Day has also become a time to celebrate the richness and diversity of Irish music.

Erin, go bragh...
and pick up a movie on the way back

Video picks for St. Patrick's Day

• Darby O'Gill and the Little People
• Luck of the Irish
• Finian's Rainbow
• The Secret of Roan Inish
• The Quiet Man
• The Commitments
• Hear My Song
• Far and Away
• My Left Foot
• Leprechaun (warning, this is not for the children)
• The Brothers McMullen
• The Fugitive
• The Molly Maguires
• The Snapper

Limerick

The city of Limerick has given its name to a popular form of poem, usually whimsical and sometimes risqué, using an A-A-B-B-A rhyming scheme. No one knows how this poetry came about, but you don't have to be Shakespeare or even Irish to enjoy the sprightly verse. We'd give you an example, but there just aren't any limericks clean enough to share.

Courtesy RCA Victor/BMG Music and the Irish Tourist Board

A few famous people of Irish descent:

• James Joyce -- poet, writer
• Seamus Heaney -- poet
• William Butler Yeats -- poet
• Clannad -- music group
• U2 -- music group
• Cranberries -- music group
• The Chieftains -- music group
• Van Morrison -- singer
• Samuel Beckett -- playwright
• Oscar Wilde -- writer, playwright
• Sinead O'Connor -- singer
• John Connelly -- former governor of Texas
• John Fitzgerald Kennedy -- former president of the United States
• Ronald Wilson Reagan -- former president of the United States
• William Jefferson Clinton -- president of the United States
  • Find out about President Clinton's Irish roots
• Tip O'Neill -- former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
• Gerry Adams -- Sinn Fein leader
• Fionnuala Sweeney -- CNN International anchor
• Enya -- singer, songwriter
• Jonathan Swift -- writer, satirist
• Bram Stoker -- writer
• J.M. Synge -- playwright
• Liam Neeson -- actor
• Daniel Day Lewis -- actor
• Gabriel Byrne -- actor
• The Pogues -- music group
• Maureen O'Hara -- actress

Leprechauns

A common mythical creature of Irish folklore is the leprechaun. The leprechaun, or little person, has been described as being about 24 inches tall with bright and homely clothes. He is wealthy because of his shoemaking skills and is sought after by greedy people, so he has to be cunning and elusive. If a leprechaun is captured and fixed with a steely glare, then he must reveal where he hides his pot o' gold.

Courtesy RCA Victor/BMG Music and the Irish Tourist Board

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