Who are the "three aunts and six grandmothers" mentioned by the ancients?

In some novels of Ming and Qing dynasties, three aunts and six grandmothers are often mentioned. Tao, a native of Yuan Dynasty, recorded the identity of three aunts and six grandmothers in the Record of Dropping out of Farming. Specifically, three aunts and six grandmothers were several occupations of ancient folk women in China. The three aunts are: nuns, Taoist aunts and divinatory aunts; Six women refer to tooth women, matchmakers, teachers, devout women, medicine women and steady women.

Nuns and Taoist priests are easy to understand. They are Buddhist and Taoist monks respectively. Guagu is a woman who specializes in divination and fortune telling and makes a living from it. Among the six girls, Tooth Girl is a trafficker who specializes in buying and selling handmaids and concubines. A matchmaker is a woman who introduces her in-laws; Shiva is a witch who is good at painting and casting spells and prays for life to God. A pious woman refers to a thief or a madam; Medicine woman is a woman who specializes in anti-abortion drugs and abortion drugs. A stable woman is a midwife who specializes in delivering children. Although six women have their own division of labor, how many hats can a person sometimes wear? Grandma? .

In the Qing Dynasty, Li Ruzhen wrote in the novel "Jing Hua Yuan". I heard that there are three aunts and six grandmothers on your land. Once recruited, women are ignorant and often suffer from it, or cheat money or kidnap clothes. ? It can be seen that, because most of the jobs that three aunts and six wives are engaged in are not legitimate businesses, in the novel texts of the old days, people often get the impression of wandering the streets, doing nothing, gossiping about gossip, lewd media, mercenary, advocating superstition, ignorance and so on. Qing dynasty? Eight eccentrics in Yangzhou? Zheng Banqiao is one of them. She has repeatedly warned women at home not to talk to strangers? Three aunts and six grandmothers? The flow of any contact.