Abstract: The article is devoted to the early stage of the formation of the Spanish paremiological tradition and the literary and collecting activities of the Marquis de Santillana. The 15th century plays a special role in the history of Spanish folklore, as voluminous annotated dictionaries of proverbs and sayings began to be actively published during this period.
The research material is the first collection of proverbs published in Spain, "Refranes … que diçen las viejas tras el fuego; e van ordenados por la orden del A, B, C", the authorship of which is attributed to the Spanish statesman and poet Marquis de Santillana (Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza y de la Vega). X. de Navascuez notes that the edition of the collection of paremias was prepared by Santillana by order of King Juan II. Researchers (Y. L. Obolenskaya, N. G. Sulimova, M. M. Rayevskaya) emphasize that the Renaissance in Spain is strongly influenced by the Italian humanistic tradition, thanks to which new poetic forms are coming to Spanish literature, and Santillana is the first among Spanish authors to turn to the sonnet. A special contribution to the study of poetic art is made by Santillana's letter to the Constable Don Pedro of Portugal, which is considered the first Spanish poetics and which examines the issues of literary history and theory.
The internal conditions for the development of Spanish culture during this period were the focus of new trends in aristocratic circles, an increased interest in the humanities, including folk culture, which, in the absence of an established literary tradition, makes proverbs and sayings in Castilian examples of correct linguistic usage.
It is also necessary to take into account the influence of the Northern European humanist tradition with its attentive attitude to oral folk art and the authoritative collection of proverbs by Erasmus of Rotterdam.
The folklore texts from Santillana's collection are vivid examples of the Spanish folk tradition and laid the foundation for the formation of the Pyrenean paremiological fund in the 15th century.

Abstract: The article examines the works of folklore scientists who laid the foundations of Spanish paremiology. The subject of the study are collections of proverbs, sayings and other small genre forms published in Spain in the XVI century. The focus of attention is the famous apophthegmata of Melchor de Santa Cruz "Floresta española de apotegmas o sentencias, sabia y graciosamente dichas, de algunos españoles" (1574), which collected about a thousand texts and covers all aspects of the life of Spanish society.
Along with other famous folklore collections of the XVI century by such authors as Juan de Timoneda, Juan de Mal Lara, Pedro Mejía, the work of Melchor de Santa Cruz influenced the formation of a scientific approach in Spanish folklore studies. The article provides a comparative analysis of collections of folklore texts of this period and emphasizes their influence on the development of Spanish folklore studies of subsequent centuries.
The XVI century caused in Spain the rise of national consciousness, which is accompanied by an increase in scientific interest in the Spanish language, its lexical richness and grammatical system. Following the discovery of the New World, Spain is experiencing not only the rapid development of the science of folklore, but also the flowering of linguistic thought, based on the small genres of folklore in the issue of exemplification. The combination of short form and capacious content makes this group of genres attractive to linguists, folklorists, and Spanish writers of the Golden Age.

Abstract: The object of this research is the theatricalizes “Danse Macabre” in the Catalonian city Verges is the only extant in La Bisbal province testimony of the popular in Medieval Western Europe traditions of Macabre. “Danse Macabre” in Verges takes place on a Maundy Thursday: five actors-skeletons with the symbolic inventory in their hands – scythe, colors, urns with ash and hourglass – move to the sounds of drums and remind spectators on the brevity of life and implacable approach of death. The presence of Macabre images in the Medieval art and literature is substantiated by crisis mentality caused by the Black Death and military conflicts. The conclusions on the archetypical features and authentic elements in Catalonian “Danse Macabre” are based on the research of historical-literary context, examination of the main scientific hypothesis regarding the Iberian trace in the emergence of this synthetic genre form, analysis of the circle beginning of Catalonian “Dance Macabre” under the influence of oriental presence on the peninsula. The author assesses modern approaches towards “Danse Macabre” with their sad procession of the representatives of all social classes to mass manifestations of democratic spirit of irreconcilability and resistance, democratic satire that is fighting for social equality facing death and acting against impunity of the powers that be.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of semasiological, phraseological and paroemiological aspects of the 'mort' concept in the Catalan language from the point of view of linguocultural approach. The lexeme 'mort' is used in the Catalon language in different meanings to express the fear of death, philosophical and religious expectations, and ironic attitude to human foibles. Catalans view death as an inescapable event; temporary verge; rest; sleep, tax that free humans from earthly judgement (Pagar tribut a la mort); suffering; grief (dol); sacral action. The research is based on over two hundred of paramias and phraseologial units, analysis of dictionary definitions of Catalan 'death' lexemes, derivational and synonymic rows. Numerous paramia euphemisms describe death as a travel and indirectly relate to grave yard or memorial service (Anar a son Tril·lo). There are also cases when the 'death' lexeme designates extremely unpleasant, insignificant or unattractive humans or items (Això és una mort) to reinforce a negative remark or indicate insufficient qualities (colors ben morts). Catalans do not avoid using death lexemes in their conversation which presents their ironic and philosophical attitude to death.