section_path: Culture/Literature
section_name: Literature
paragraph_text: Literature
  
  Philippine literature consists of works usually written in Filipino, Spanish, or English. Some of the earliest well-known works were created from the 17th to the 19th centuries. They include Ibong Adarna, an epic about an eponymous magical bird, and Florante at Laura by Tagalog author Francisco Balagtas. José Rizal wrote the novels Noli Me Tángere and El filibusterismo, both of which depict the injustices of Spanish colonial rule.
  
  Folk literature was relatively unaffected by colonial influence until the 19th century due to Spanish indifference. Most printed literary works during Spanish colonial rule were religious in nature, although Filipino elites who later learned Spanish wrote nationalistic literature.: 59–62 The American arrival began Filipino literary use of English: 65–66 and influenced the development of the Philippine comics industry that flourished from the 1920s through the 1970s. In the late 1960s, during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, Philippine literature was influenced by political activism; many poets began using Tagalog, in keeping with the country's oral traditions.: 69–71
  
  Philippine mythology has been handed down primarily through oral tradition; popular figures are Maria Makiling, Lam-ang, and the Sarimanok.: 61 The country has a number of folk epics. Wealthy families could preserve transcriptions of the epics as family heirlooms, particularly in Mindanao; the Maranao-language Darangen is an example.