Hello. My name is Rachel Nic Aoidh and welcome to the fifth part of our six part series on Life and Death. Last week we spoke about the Death of Cú Chulainn. This week we will be looking at Miach, and the significance of his death.
Miach was the son of the Dian Cécht, of the Tuatha De Danann. Miach is also the father of healing herbs and the patron of herbalism.
When Nuada, the leader of the Tuatha De Danann lost his arm in battle, he also lost his throne. It was said that only someone with no physical imperfections could rule. Dian Cécht, the God of Healing, could only fit him with a silver prosthetic hand. Miach was determined to fully heal Nuada so that he could regain leadership of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
Miach located Nuada’s severed arm, which had been buried, and removed the silver arm. For three days, he held his arm to Nuada’s side. For three more days, he held it to Nuada’s chest. For a final three days, he threw bulrushes at it, always chanting this incantation.
Sinew to Sinew;
Nerve to Nerve;
Joint to Joint
After nine days and nine nights, Nuada was healed perfectly and fit to regain his throne. However, Dian Cécht was unhappy. Miach had somehow upstaged his father and showed himself to be a greater healer than he was. He was angry at him. He tried to kill his son four times before he finally succeeded. The first time, he only striked his skin, and Miach healed himself. The second time, he broke Miach’s skull but again, he healed himself. He stabbed Miach everywhere, from his guts to his brain, but to no avail. It was only the final blow to his brain where he cut it in half that he finally succeeded in killing his son.
Miach was buried in the ground, and from this, 365 healing plants grew from his grave, one for each day of the year, and one for every illness someone could have. It is believed that the plants that grow from a person’s grave hold some of their spirit, and so what grew from the grave of Miach were all the healing plants of the world.
Airmed, Miach’s sister, collected all of these herbs and she organised them, studying which ailments they could be used to combat. But when Dian Cécht found her doing this, he scattered them all. This is believed to be the reason that we don’t have the medicines for every illness today.
Miach died by doing a good deed for Nuada, and he was killed out of spite. But his spirit did not die with his body. His nature showed through even when he died. All he wanted was to help heal the sick. He helped Nuada, he helped many other gods during his life, and ultimately, he continued to do it after his death.
It is known that the Tuatha Dé Danann were immortal and it was believed that they never truly died, but instead they retreated into the otherworld once their body died. Perhaps instead of retreating to the Otherworld, Miach chose to instead carry on his legacy through the healing herbs.
That was our story on the Death of Miach, join us next week for our final story.
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