section_path: Culture
section_name: Culture
paragraph_text: Culture
  
  The Philippines has significant cultural diversity, reinforced by the country's fragmented geography.: 61 Spanish and American cultures profoundly influenced Filipino culture as a result of long colonization. The cultures of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago developed distinctly, since they had limited Spanish influence and more influence from nearby Islamic regions.: 503 Indigenous groups such as the Igorots have preserved their precolonial customs and traditions by resisting the Spanish. A national identity emerged during the 19th century, however, with shared national symbols and cultural and historical touchstones.
  
  Hispanic legacies include the dominance of Catholicism: 5 and the prevalence of Spanish names and surnames, which resulted from an 1849 edict ordering the systematic distribution of family names and the implementation of Spanish naming customs;: 75 : 237 the names of many locations also have Spanish origins. American influence on modern Filipino culture is evident in the use of English: 12 and Filipino consumption of fast food and American films and music.
  
  Public holidays in the Philippines are classified as regular or special. Festivals are primarily religious, and most towns and villages have such a festival (usually to honor a patron saint). Better-known festivals include Ati-Atihan, Dinagyang, Moriones, Sinulog, and Flores de Mayo —a month-long devotion to the Virgin Mary held in May. The country's Christmas season begins as early as September 1,: 149 and Holy Week is a solemn religious observance for its Christian population.: 149