calpulli

In precolumbian Aztec society, a calpulli (from Classical Nahuatl , , meaning "large house") was the designation of an organizational unit below the level of the Altepetl "citystate". A Nahua citystate was divided into a number of calpullis that each constituted a unit where the calpulli inhabitants were collectively responsible for different organizational and religious tasks in relation to the larger altepetl. Calpullis controlled land which was available for calpulli members to cultivate and also operated the Telpochcalli  schools for young men of commoner descent. In Aztec culture, as in most other civilizations, the family unit was very important. There were several levels of organization in Aztec family life beginning with the base family unit. The base family unit consisted of two parents and their unmarried children. The main functions of the base family unit were education of the children and food preparation. Many base family units, however, banded together to form extended families. The households of extended families were usually composed of several brothers and their families. The primary functions of the extended families were to coordinate land use and food production (such as growing crops). In most cases, extended families contained just a few base family units. In large cities, however, they often grew to many more.