The article is devoted to the analysis of folk customs and traditions presented in M.Y. Lermontov's Caucasian poems. The choice of this theme allows us to deepen existing ideas about the problem of folklorism in the poet's works. The article describes in detail artistic functions and ways of depicting customs of blood feud and hospitality in the poems "Kally", "Khadzhi Abrek", "Izmail-Bey", "Fugitive". Comparative analysis of rituals reflected in poems with folklore sources is made and the degree of accuracy of recreating national habits is revealed. The article shows that in the poems "Kally" and "Izhmael-Bey" the motive of blood feud becomes constructively significant. In "Kally" poem it fulfils a plot-forming function and is revealed in the relationship between Adzhi and Akbulat, but the hero who obeys the demands of mullahs who represent norms and rules of mountaineers, refuses to accept the established moral law, which is why the poem symbolically ends with the death of mullah. In "Khadzhi Abrek" poem the situation of blood feud is also the central plot event, and in "Izmail-Bey" poem the motive of blood feud is not the key one but it is important for portraying the mountaineers' mentality and way of life. The theme of blood feud is further developed in the poem "The Fugitive": Harun betrays his clan by abandoning the battlefield and, therefore, is banished from his native land and ends up committing suicide. The poems "Izmail-Bey" and "Khadzhi Abrek" reflect another custom - the custom of hospitality. Comparing the content of the poems with folklore, ethnographic and cultural sources, we can conclude that the writer is well acquainted with the way of life of mountain peoples, so he gives authentic descriptions of the meeting of travelers with their hosts.
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