ABSTRACT

This chapter analyzes the family structure of the well known village of Tepoztlan a few years after the establishment of Spanish control. It outlines of the major features it reveals about the social organization of Tepo-ztlan at the time when it was written. The chapter discusses of household composition and residence patterns the authors have referred to aspects of the developmental cycle of the family. A number of facts show that a young couple could move to a new household after only a brief period of viridomestic residence. The chapter focuses on the main cycle in family development as a change from nuclear towards joint families of the head-with-sons and later of the head-with-brothers types, only occasionally growing to larger types. It describes the family structure of an ancient Mexican community on the basis of detailed case materials recovered from old records.