Abstract
During an ancient procession, the Greek landscape was transformed; the dynamic environment ignited worshipers' senses. Archaeologists and historians have made significant strides to illustrate worshipers' experiences. We hear about noisy parades crowding into a sanctuary; roasted meat and smoke wafted through the air. These studies are largely framed around the Greeks who walked in the processions; they were the people ancient historians and artists cared to record. There were others: spectators and vendors; attendees were diverse in terms of age, sociopolitical status, and personal dogma. In order to model these other attendees' sensory experiences, we need new datasets and approaches. In this talk, I will present ethnographic data and digital textual analyses from the Saint Mary of Carmen Festa in Nonantum (Newton, Massachusetts). I draw feasible links between past and present. The Saint Mary festa did not transport me to the ancient Hekatombaia. Yet, the contemporary perspectives helped me elicit new ideas about ancient experiences, particularly how the same space was differently seen, felt, and heard. With contemporary comparanda, scholars working in Greece or other regions can reinvigorate existing archaeological and textual datasets. They can imagine a wider array of worshipers and how layered sensory experiences built the sacred landscape.