Story · Živena
Živena
Slovak Women's Association · 1869 – present
Story · Živena
Slovak Women's Association · 1869 – present
Elena Maróthy Šoltésová
"We too feel the longing for something higher, and God has given us spirit; let us not allow this greatest of gifts to wither, but tend it with care."
— Elena Maróthy-Šoltésová
Among the embroideries and folk-costume dolls I discovered in my grandparents' cellar, I also found two volumes of the old Živena journal, years 36–37 and 38. They had been carefully stored there, as though someone had deliberately set them aside for the future.
Two volumes of the Živena journal from 1938 and 1936–37
Those two volumes of Živena carried me back in time, and with each article I felt I was getting to know the world of my ancestors a little more deeply.
Once I started leafing through them, I could not put them down. Živena was a periodical published by the women's association of the same name. Reading articles on child-rearing, marriage, recipes and fashion, I had the feeling that this journal could have been published today and would hold just as much value for women now as it did a hundred years ago, because, for all that times have changed, our qualities, longings and responsibilities have shifted very little. What captivated me were the guides to caring for infants, advice on raising children, debates about women's place in society, recipes, exercise columns and fashion pages. And it was in those fashion pages that I came across the name Aranka Šenšelová Hubková, the sister-in-law of Anna Šenšelová. Yet another thread connecting my family to this world.
I also came across an article about embroideries, about women who went from village to village across Slovakia collecting old embroideries and folk costumes. No names were given, but in all likelihood these were women from Lipa, perhaps Anna Šenšelová herself among them. They were met with scorn: people told them there was nothing of the kind in their homes, that the costumes had long since been handed over to rag-and-bone men or simply burned. Who would wear such things today? Just as happens so often with new trends, the old was quickly cast aside, even when it had once been dear to people. That is how Western influences were making their way into Slovak homes at the time, and traditional embroidery was quietly losing its place.
Who was Živena
Živena was founded on 4 August 1869 in Turčiansky Svätý Martin. At a time when Slovak women had no right to an education in their mother tongue, a group of patriots and courageous women decided to do something about it. The association's aim was to educate Slovak women: in finance, cookery, child-rearing and culture. By the standards of the day, it was a revolutionary act.
At first glance, feminism and embroidery might seem to have little in common. The opposite is true. For Živena, embroidery was a weapon of resistance, quiet but effective. The association collected patterns, organised exhibitions and trained embroiderers. Not out of nostalgia, but out of a firm conviction that preserving tradition was an act of national defiance. And at the same time, a way for women to earn their own money.
Živena founded girls' schools and courses in cookery, hygiene, child-rearing and household management. In 1919 it opened its own school, and in 1922 the first nursery in Slovakia.
As early as 1887 it organised exhibitions of Slovak embroideries. From 1895 it systematically collected folk costumes in collaboration with the Slovak Museum Society.
The Živena Almanac (1872), the journal Dennica (1898) and the association's literary journal Živena (1910): the first women's publications in Slovakia, where women wrote for women.
Živena worked hand in hand with Lipa, giving women the chance to turn a traditional skill into real income. Embroidery became not only a cultural act but an economic one too.
Selected pages and columns from historical issues of the Živena journal. More are being added over time.
On Folk Costumes (I.)
On Folk Costumes (II.)
On Folk Costumes (III.)
Miscellany
The Embroideress
Exercise
Fashion Column
Women's Role in National Defence (I.)
Women's Role in National Defence (II.)
Chronicle
Ten moments that shaped the oldest women's association in Slovakia.
Živena is founded in Martin. Anna Pivková becomes its first chairwoman. At the founding assembly, 73 women sign up on the spot.
After the forced closure of Matica slovenská, Živena becomes the only Slovak association still standing, the keeper of national identity.
A landmark exhibition of Slovak embroideries in Martin, one of the first great public acts of rescuing folk art.
Elena Maróthy-Šoltésová becomes chairwoman, a position she will hold until 1927. Under her guidance, Živena enters the richest period of its history.
The Živena journal begins publication. That same year, on Šoltésová's initiative, Lipa is founded, and from that moment their two stories are bound together.
Živena opens its own school and the first nursery in Slovakia. During the First Czechoslovak Republic, the association grows to 90 local branches and more than 6,000 members.
Živena's ethnographic exhibition in Banská Bystrica, one of the largest presentations of Slovak folk art and traditional dress of its time. A joint event with the Lipa association.
Živena is forcibly dissolved by the communist regime.
Živena is revived by a group of resolute women led by the writer Hana Zelinová.
Živena gathers more than 1,000 members across 12 local branches throughout Slovakia. Since 2022 its chairwoman has been Alena Heribanová.