Sensational Ensembles

Drawing on posthumanist and sensory archaeology, this paper explores ensemble practices as an alternative to Eurocentric conceptions of ritual as a heuristic of cross-cultural comparison. We identify ensemble practices as the gathering of assemblages that create meaning for participants through their comingling with evocative juxtapositions of bodies, objects, comestibles, built spaces, landscapes, and environmental forces. The sensorial intensity and allusive capacity of these ensembles heighten human perceptions of relationality, providing opportunities to reflect on relationships to other beings, materials, and forces. To illustrate the utility of this approach, we examine historic, ethnographic, folkloric, and archaeological evidence for open-air food and drink consumption—picnicking—in historic and contemporary Ireland (ca. AD 1650–present). Analysis of ceramic and glass finds associated with annual celebrations of Saint Leo’s Day on Inishark Island indicates how food, drink, and household wares featured in ensemble practices that fostered memorable and commemorative experiences of shared heritage, devotion, and commensality. This study highlights how human practices create meaning through sensorially rich and evocative ensembles that often eschew traditional dichotomies associated with ritual.