Young men left their homes at age fifteen and went to be trained for war in the telpochcalli, the houses of youths, the cuicacalli, the houses of song. Their parents had promised them at birth, in hopes that they would win renown. At the telpochcalli, the young men swept the building. Whatever work they were doing, as the sun set they stopped and dressed for the dances. They wore black paint, and neck bands, and netted capes with small snail shells. When the sun set they laid a fire at the song house, cuicalco, and sang and danced until after midnight.