The culture of Montenegro is as pluralistic and diverse as its history and geographical position would suggest. Montenegro's culture has been influenced by the Serbian Empire, the Byzantine Empire, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, Christianity, the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Habsburg monarchy, and Yugoslavia.

The Slava is exclusive custom of the Serbian Orthodox Church believers, each family has one patron saint that they venerate on their feast day. The Serbian Orthodox Church uses the traditional Julian calendar, as per which Christmas Day (December 25) falls currently on January 7 of the Gregorian calendar, thus the Serbs celebrate Christmas on January 7, shared with the Orthodox churches of Jerusalem, Russia, Georgia and the Greek Old Calendarists.

A Montenegrin tradition made into law in Montenegro by King Nikola during his reign, consisting of newly-weds planting an olive tree on their wedding day as a symbol of marriage.

Montenegrin society is still very conservative. According to the 2011 census, the vast majority of more than 96% of Montenegrin residents declare themselves as members of some religious organization.

While Eastern Orthodox Christianity is the dominant religious denomination in Montenegro, there are also sizable numbers of adherents of both Catholic Christianity and Islam. The dominant Church is the Serbian Orthodox Church although traces of a forming Montenegrin Orthodox Church are present.

The badnjak is a tree branch or young tree brought into the house and placed on the fire on the evening of Christmas Eve, a central tradition in Eastern Orthodox Christmas celebrations in Montenegro. The tree from which the badnjak is cut, preferably a young and straight Austrian oak, is ceremonially felled early on the morning of Christmas Eve. The felling, preparation, bringing in, and laying on the fire, are surrounded by elaborate rituals, with many regional variations.

The traditional folk dance is a circle dance called kolo, which is common among Montenegrins, Serbs and Macedonians. It is a collective dance, where a group of people (usually several dozen, at the very least three) hold each other by the hands or around the waist dancing, forming a circle (hence the name), semicircle or spiral. It is called Oro (or the "Eagle dance") in Montenegro. Similar circle dances also exist in other cultures of the region.

Montenegrins' long-standing history of struggle for freedom and independence is invariably linked with strong traditions of oral epic poetry. Traditionally, they are delivered to the audience accompanied by the music produced by a gusle, a one-string instrument played by the storyteller (guslar), who sings or recites the stories of heroes and battles in decasyllabic verse. Historically, these songs have had an immense motivational power over the population. The guslars commanded almost as much respect as the best of warriors, as they were as much the authors, thus history writers, as they were interpreters. Presently, these traditions are somewhat livelier in the northern parts of the country (also shared with people in eastern Herzegovina, western Serbia, and central Dalmatia).