Music and Time Annotation << Back Songs of Wedding Traditions of the Kaluga and Novgorod Areas (About One Hypothesis of N.I. Lebedeva) N.N. Gilyarova The article is devoted to the comparison of «before the wedding» songs of Kaluga wedding ceremony and the Novgorod region songs. South-Western Kaluga districts were named «Kalugzskoe Polese» by one of the best Soviet ethnographers – N.I. Lebedeva. The history of the area is special for its migration and ethno-cultural contacts. We selected wedding songs as the most archaic stratum of folklore prevalent in the South-West of Kaluga region, in comparison with songs of the Novgorod region. The subjects, places in the ritual, and musical and poetic style were examined. These songs have in common not only the stories, but the tonic verse system, and at a deeper level the Stop-System. Comparison of the Novgorod and the Kaluga materials made by the abovementioned parameters, partially confirms the hypothesis N.I. Lebedeva. Keywords: folk music, wedding ceremony, the Kaluga region, Veliky Novgorod, Ethnology. Contacts: E-mail: natalja.gilyarova@yandex.ru Pp. 65-71.