V knige rassmatrivaetsya vzaimosvyaz' mezhdu bytovaniem kul'turnykh traditsiy i proiskhozhdeniem naseleniya na territorii Vologodskogo kraya. S tsel'yu prosledit' proiskhozhdenie traditsiy ikh arealy sopostavlyalis' s territoriyami istoricheskogo rasseleniya etnicheskikh grupp naseleniya. Bytovanie kul'turnykh traditsiy v raznykh rayonakh i mestnostyakh Vologodchiny uvyazyvaetsya s osnovnymi vekhami etnicheskoy istorii kraya i etapami formirovaniya sovremennogo ego naseleniya. Posredstvom analiza narodnoy kul'tury proyavlyayutsya oblasti rasseleniya raznykh etnokul'turnykh grupp naseleniya v predshestvuyushchie istoricheskie epokhi, i razreshayutsya nekotorye spornye voprosy protsessa rannesrednevekovoy slavyanskoy kolonizatsii. V rabote pokazany arealy mnogikh starykh kul'turnykh traditsiy, prostirayushchikhsya na territorii vologodskikh zemel', i utochneny granitsy ikh arealov v sopredel'nykh oblastyakh. Khotya dannaya rabota posvyashchena preimushchestvenno territorii Vologodskoy zemli, sdelannye v ney vyvody yavlyayutsya aktual'nymi v tselom dlya izucheniya istoricheskikh etnokul'turnykh korney traditsionnoy russkoy kul'tury, a v otdel'nykh aspektakh i dlya ponimaniya proiskhozhdeniya evropeyskikh kul'turnykh traditsiy.