The village is located between the tributary of the River Gauja, the Berželis, and the highlands to the north, on the Dieveniškės – Geranainiai road. The village is 30 km from the centre of the district and 3 km from the town of Dieveniškės. Historical sources mention that as early as 1385 the name of Dieveniškės was mentioned by the spies of the Teutonic Knights, and that there was already a manor house here, which was the feudal centre of the surrounding territories, and it is undisputed that the village of Žižmai was also part of the manor house. The oldest known historical document mentioning Žižmai, dating back to 1737, states that 7 families lived in the village. The number of homesteads increased considerably in the second half of the 18th century (13 in 1775). By the middle of the 19th century, before the abolition of serfdom, the village was already fully established.
From the time the village was mentioned in historical sources at the beginning of the 18th century until today, the surname Šilabritai has been used. Before the Second World War, the village had a private 4-grade primary school run by the Ryto Society, a branch of the St. Casimir Society, and a Lithuanian reading room. The village homesteads differ in the shape of the plot, the position of the buildings in relation to the street, the number and connection of buildings, and the position of fences.
