Who we are

Židana marela is non-profit organization specialized in organizing programs, events and activities which integrate rich Slovenian cultural heritage and tourism, thus creating unique experience for tourists visiting Slovenia.
Most popular among our programmes is “Slovenian Evening” for all those who are eager to experience genuine Slovenian hospitality, traditional cuisine, folklore show, live Slovenian music and dancing.
In addition to “Slovenian Evenings”, Židana marela also runs folklore shows, music events, and welcome parties for agencies, corporate clients and organizers wishing to surprise their guests and augment their entertainment programmes.

For “Slovenian evenings” we received “Silver award for innovative tourist product of 2007″, given annually by Slovenian Tourist Board.

The story behind Židana marela…

Three young guys – experienced tourist guides – united under the name of Židana marela to fill a niche in Slovenian tourist offer, by organizing events, that combine cultural heritage, entertainment and tourism.
It started out of need in spring 2004, because we couldn’t find any place where we could take our guests that would offer evening program with folklore show, life music, dancing and – of course – traditional food and drinks. So we started to organize “Slovenian evenings” ourselves, first for our guests and later for different tourist agencies and business groups. Enthusiastic secondary-work quickly evolved to the point that we decided to start a company (Židana marela, 2007). We combined our enthusiasm and youthfulness with rich experiences in tourism, added some hard, serious work, carefully selected our partners and offered regular Slovenian evenings for individuals as well as groups.

What does “Židana marela” mean?

Židana marela can be literally translated as Jolly brolly and means “cheerful umbrella”. It’s a title of famous Slovenian folk (polka) song: “Jaz pa ti*, pa židana marela…” and has long history: Back in the old days silk was named “žida” (from German: Seide) and it was very expensive. Slovenian folk was enraptured with its gloss, but could not afford it, so it came up with an idea: they started to knit cloth with threads of different colors which produced gloss effect and used that cloth for attire. “Židan -a -o” came to mean: festive, colorful, distinguished, cheerful, … “Marela” is old slang for umbrella.

Name “Židana marela” fits what we do perfectly: our organization covers different festive, colorful, distinguished and cheerful events.

Pronunciation: “Jee-dun-ah Mah-reh-lah”