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St.Patrick's Day Celebrations at Durty Nellies

oth of Beijing's Durty Nellies Irish Pubs will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day on March 17 with their traditional carnivals boisterous knees-ups that will see probably every Irish citizen in the city celebrating the memory of their country's patron saint as only they know how ... with home-from-home flagons of Irish Guinness and coffee, Irish food virtually by the ton, song and dance and anything else to do with "the green".

St. Patrick was born in Wales about AD385. His mission was to convert Irish pagans to Christianity when he was appointed as second bishop to Ireland. Patrick was quite successful at winning converts, though he was arrested several times. He traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries and setting up schools and churches to help reinforce the conversion of the country to Christianity. He devoted 30 years to this cause, and died on March 17, 461 Ñ a day that has been commemorated ever since. Although originally a Catholic holy day, St. Patrick's Day has evolved into more of a secular holiday.

A traditional icon of the day is the shamrock. Legend has it that Patrick used this three-leafed plant to explain the Trinity, using it to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day.