"A Spanish law of 1766 required consent of the parents of both sides before a couple could marry."4 Due to the social stratification of Spanish society, parents customarily arranged weddings for their children, with or without their consent. The union assured the couple were socially compatible and that it would benefit both families economically. Girls married when they were about seventeen years old, boys when they were about nineteen. Other accounts mention that girls usually married as soon as they could bear children, usually from the ages of twelve to fifteen. In some cases young people met for the first time at the wedding ceremony in the church. "The disposition for the fathers to select husbands or wives for their children is at least in part Indian in origin. Fathers sometimes betrothed their children in infancy."5 "Still, such marriages endured, if not because the couple grew to love each other than due to the sanctity of the institution of marriage."6

"The traditional and most respectable form of arranging a marriage was the petición de mano, or asking for the hand of the girl."7 The ancient Aztecs' formal requests made in arranging marriages resembled those of the Spanish; they also made use of long, formal charges or admonishments during their 'rites of passage.' In ancient days, parents arranged marriages for their children through intermediaries. "The four successive nocturnal visits to ask for the girl's hand correspond with ancient Aztec practice and is therefore also probably Indian in origin."8

The peticion de mano differed among the Spanish and the Indians. An Indian boy would ask his father to assist him in arranging the marriage with the girl he was attracted to, though he most probably had hardly exchanged a word with her. The parents and the boy's godfather of baptism would go to the house of the girl's parents. They would secretly visit the girl's parents usually late in the afternoon, most probably to avoid possible embarrassment should the boy be rejected. After long conversation on other topics, the visitors mentioned the subject of marriage. If the parents of the girl returned an immediate negative, the callers withdrew, taking with them their sabucan of food, which consisted of rum, cigarettes, chocolate, and bread. But if the reply suggested they wished for some time to think matters over, the boy's father and godfather understood the petition was favorably entertained, so they served their gifts of food to everyone. Usually the girl's parents asked for a stay of a few weeks, or pedir un plazo, to think matters over, but a longer request like of one year suggested a refusal.