on Fastelavns Sunday. In Norway, students having seen celebrations in Paris introduced Carnival processions, masked balls, and Carnival balls to Christiana in the 1840s and 1850s. From 1863, the artist federation Kunstnerforeningen held annual Carnival balls in the old Freemasons lodge, which inspired Johan Svendsen's compositions Norsk Kunstnerkarneval and Karneval in Paris. The following year, Svendsen's Festpolonaise was written for the opening procession. Edvard Grieg attended and wrote "Aus dem Karneval" (Folkelivsbilleder Op. 19). Since 1988, the student organization has produced annual masquerade balls in Oslo, with masks, costumes, and processions after attending an opera performance. The Carnival season also includes Fastelavens søndag (with cream buns) and fastelavensris with decorated branches. England In England, the season immediately before Lent was called Shrovetide. A time for confessing sins ("shriving"), it had fewer festivities than the Continental Carnivals. Today, Shrove Tuesday is celebrated as Pancake Day, but little else of the Lent-related Shrovetide survived the 16th-century English Reformation. The Shrovetide Carnival in the United Kingdom is celebrated in Cowes and East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Since 2012, Hastings in East Sussex has celebrated with its own Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday. Five days of music and street events culminating with a Grand Ball on Fat Tuesday itself. Loosely based on the New Orleans style of carnival, Hastings has taken its own course. Finland The Helsinki Samba Carnaval, modelled after the samba carnivals in Brazil, takes place every year in middle June. The carnival lacks a proper historical tradition and has instead mostly grown from experimenting. France Some major Carnivals of mainland France are the Nice Carnival, the Dunkirk Carnival and the Limoux Carnival. The Nice Carnival was held as far back as 1294, and annually attracts over a million visitors during the two weeks preceding Lent. Since 1604, a characteristic masked Carnival is celebrated in Limoux. The Dunkirk Carnival is among the greatest and most exuberant carnivals celebrated in Europe. Its traditions date back to the 17th century and are based on the vischerbende as fishermen went from one café to another accompanied by their relatives and friends just before departing to Icelandic fishing grounds. In the French West Indies, it occurs between the Sunday of Epiphany and Ash Wednesday; this dates back to the arrival of French colonists in the islands. Germany, Switzerland, and Austria Germany The earliest written record of Carnival in Germany was in 1296 in Speyer.