Marriage in Mayan culture was very much a family-involved activity.  Families of the girl took part in granting approval of a match or denying the match brought forth by the boy wooing her.  Marriages were performed by the priests, with much ceremonial rejoicing, and preceded by a solemn confession and a baptismal rite, known as the "rebirth", without which there could be no marriage.   No one could marry out of his own rank or without the consent of the chief of the district.  The process of a boy courting the girl he wanted to marry was the manner the Mayan culture was accustomed to having marriages. At young ages, boys and girls seldom had interaction with one another.  Girls tended to attract suitors when they entered adolescence around the age of fourteen or fifteen.  Because girls were shielded from boys since early childhood, they tended to be shy, causing the young men to put in a great deal of work for the courtship ritual.  Boys petition only one girl at a time. If the girl indicated that she wished to marry, the boy would inform his family, and a long series of formal negotiations would begin between the two families.  The marriage would be arranged by relatives and witnesses. On the morning after the wedding night, and every day thereafter, the bride would rise around four o'clock in the morning, along with the other women of the household, to grind corn for the breakfast. The groom and the other men of the house rise an hour later. The newlyweds would have had a bed, or at least a floor-mat, of their own placed in a separate room if one was available.  Throughout her lifetime, a woman remains formally subordinate to her husband who represents the family before the public. But the husband seldom interferes with the affairs of woman, allowing his wife full sway in domestic management.

The Mayan family all lived together. The men farmed and hunted; the women would cook and weave. The children helped out their mothers with the chores and only went to school if they came from a noble family.  Many families would occupy a single-room dwelling, and the bridal couple must often be content with only the privacy of darkness and a separate corner of the room.  Women who kept families seemed to work a great deal, not only on chores, but on preparing their daughters for marriage.  Boys would typically model after their fathers, and assisted him in his daily work, while girls modeled their mothers. Housewives lead remarkably busy lives, waking before dawn and working until shortly after dark when they went to sleep. Grinding corn for tortillas consumed at least four hours of the day. Two hours were devoted to weaving, two more to washing clothes and bringing water to their home, the remaining hours were left to cooking, caring for children, feeding chickens and any other animals they may have kept, and tending to any crops.  A woman's work day was more tightly scheduled than a man's, and there was less variation from day to day. Water trips and laundering were strenuous tasks, but they counted as relaxation for the opportunity they offered of walking and working with other women and engaging in social talking.

Here is an example of an ancient Mayan house.

As a rule, the average mother gave birth to a baby every year and a half to two years. She bore from about six to about twelve children. Unfortunately, only half (or less) of this number would survive, most deaths occurring in early infancy because of infection or other disease. Some couples remained childless, but these are considered unusual cases attributable to infertility.  Children of crawling age were carried about in a shawl rather than left on the floor for long periods where they would be in danger of spilling any cooking pots, getting into the fire, or contracting various illnesses from the dirt floor. Mayan children of both sexes received their training at a very early age by assisting their parents.  Boys would accompany their fathers to the fields as soon as their legs were sturdy enough to walk the distance.  Little girls would busy themselves in the yard with imitation household tasks; fetching water, washing clothes, and grinding corn on makeshift stones.  Mothers would try to insure the virtue of their daughter not so much by communicating moral precepts as by shielding her from danger and temptation. Girls learned that good conduct consisted of avoiding close contact with men and boys. They were warned that failure to follow this injunction will expose them to dire unnamed consequences. Until they were about five, boys and girls would do the same chores and play the same games.  Children learned what was appropriate to their sex through observation and imitation. By the time they were seven or eight, boys and girls worked at different tasks, and also were no longer able to play with each other.