The carnival lacks a proper historical tradition. It mostly grew from experimenting and organising, but was still influenced by
Brazilian traditions. In 2007,
Tarja Halonen,
President of Finland at the time, participated in the event. The organisation responsible for the event is the Finnish Samba School Association (in
Finnish:
Suomen Sambakoulujen Liitto). It organized the samba carnival for the first time in 1991 in
Turku, but since 1993, Helsinki has been established as the official carnival location. The association has been awarded the esteemed
Insignia of the Order of Rio Branco by the Federative Republic of Brazil. ==Samba schools==