Carnival

## Description

Carnival is the Festival of Light, exactly half a year away from Halloween, the Festival of Darkness. It also marks the true turning of the Hive year, because Lottery begins on the day after Carnival.

## Date

In a normal year Carnival begins on day 92 of the year. But if for some reason Hive Trade needs to be delayed, the celebration will be longer or the date may shift to further out. The delay effects the holiday because Lottery always takes place the week following the holiday with Hive Trading of people following immediately after lottery.

## What Happens

The Hive population dress up in costumes and everything is decorated in gold and silver streamers, balloons, etc. The Hive fills with light and glitter. People wear glittering masks and special glittering dresses or outfits.

Light and Dark Pageant, highly stylized theatrical performances, are performed during this period. In the Carnival version, the Light Angel wins the battle and banishes the Dark Angel. For Hiveists, these pageants have a deeper meaning.

The teens who are about to undergo Lottery attend special events and parties in the weeks up to Carnival.

On the last day, they will "ride the Hive" (that is, balance on the balustrades of the downways from Level 1 to 100), a technically illegal act that is tolerated on that special occasion.

There are also Carnival parties for young children and presumably for all other ages as well.

## Summary

### Perilous

Perilous describes the Carnival from the POV of a teen not yet due to go through lottery, though Amber is highly aware that it will be her turn next year. While the Festival itself is not described in detail, her friend Shanna has led the corridor group in preparing elaborate, artistic Carnival masks. Shanna also alters her last year's carnival gown to fit Amber, now that she has agreed to date Atticus during the festival.

Atticus and Amber attend a Light and Dark Pageant, although Amber does not enjoy these.

During the blackout, Shanna organizes a Carnival party with music and dancing in the park.

### Telepath

The first chapter of Telepath takes place on the last day of Carnival. Amber, Forge, Shanna and the rest of their group "ride the Hive" from Level one downwards on their last day as teens before Lottery. The starting point on the top level is full of gold and silver streamers. Amber is the only one of them who manages to ride all the way down to level 100.

Later in the book it emerges that Amber was kidnapped from a children's Carnival Party by an agent from another hive, Elden. He took her out of the Hive and imprinted her, but when she was found outside, the medical team who checked her out concluded she only had sunburn. (Which raises the question whether Carnival in the Hive World is in summer, unlike now, though perhaps it was just an unusually warm spring day.) Her parents never found out about this incident, and were told the sunburn was an allergic reaction to face paints during the Carnival party.

Amber often compares the contents of Lucas' mind to the movement and glitter of Carnival.

## See also

* Hive England
* Light and Dark Pageant
* Hiveism
* Trade (Hive England)
* Lottery (Hive England)

## References

### Bibliography

* Edwards, Janet. *Perilous (Hive Mind 0.5)* (2017). Wallam-Crane Press. Kindle Edition.
* Edwards, Janet. *Telepath (Hive Mind 1)* (2016). Wallam-Crane Press. Kindle Edition