You know... China does have a thing with numbers. That and superstition/ghosts.
There's a number I don't remember currently, but.........
.......it's considered to be exTREMEly unlucky because it translates as "You die" or something just as... odd. O.o
OOoh, Slavic myths?? I'd LOVE to hear more!! (Actually, I do have some Slavic/Czech ancestory)
Lemme see.... the Golem!! I think that's one!! You know, the giant stone guy .... a symbol of infinity must be carved into his forhead and then he will obey the carver's will. (At least, that's how it worked in Johnny Quest *heh* I'm such a dork comparing mythology to .... tv.... no. Loser. Definitely a loser.)
Other mythologies...... Indian. Like some of the Hindu gods have neat stories. I read for the love interest of Rahma(?) in highschool..... He's one of the seven incarnations of Vishnu, btw. (yeah, seven stories about one ... soul. kinda neat. Like religious fanfiction!! 
)
You know what's interesting?? Creation stories.
Yesh, creation stories are neat. What's fun is how weird some of them are ("the universe was created when the Great Space Cow threw up and her half-chewed cud BECAME THE SUN") and how so many of them portray the universe as a big accident or the side-effect of some quibble between the Gods. It's interesting because Judeo-Christian beliefs say that God intentionally created life with a purpose and is keeping a close eye on us, but that's actually kind of unique among beliefs throughout the ages. For most of history, people believed their Gods either created them by accident or on a whim, and didn't really care much about them. Gods were to be feared, for they were often petty jerks. Maybe this was an illustration of how they interpreted the seeming random mercilessness of nature-big storms coming up for no reason, earthquakes, etc. These days, nature is still unpredictible, but we at least can tell when a hurricane is coming and make buildings to withstand earthquakes, and we understand what causes these things. We are slightly less helpless before nature, and thus we don't see it as the terrifying force we once did. Thus, it's easier to accept the idea of a loving God.
This is actually consistant with Christian beliefs,too. If you look at the Old Testament, God is a really moody jerk sometimes, turning people's wives into salt and blowing up towns and stuff. But then the New Testament comes along, and Jesus says "No, God's not a jerk, that's all heresay" and God is portrayed as really nice from then on out (although he still kills everybody in Revalations.) One of the most important ideas Jesus brought to the table was the idea that God was merciful and loving. That was pretty revolutionary back then.
Incendentally, that Johnny Quest episode actually changed the Golem story to remove religous content-the Golem is a Jewish myth, and to animate one, a Rabbi (or other wise person with spiritual powers) writes the Hebrew word for "Truth" on its forehead. To stop a Golem, you have to erase the first letter of the word-doing so turns it into the Hebrew word for "Death," and the Golem will immediatally die.
There was a recent issue of Ninja Turtles in which Donatello runs into a Golem that is robbing stores in a local neighborhood. It turns out the Golem was created by a mathmatical genius who figured out the equation for creating life, and animated him by writing the symbol for "Pi" on his head. They fought, but the Golem, despite being unstoppable, gave up because he didn't want to hurt anyone. Donny learned that the Golem's creator was actually dead, and the Golem was robbing stores to buy medicine for his creator's son, who was severly ill and could not leave his bed.
Only it then turned out that the boy was dead, and had been for a long time. The Golem had no concept of death, so he didn't even realize it-he'd just been bringing him medicine every week like always, and it just piled up around the boy's body. Donatello explained it to him, and the Golem was sad, but also curious-he didn't understand why the boy would do something "so strange as to die." Donny replied that it wasn't strange at all-that everything eventually dies.
"Not everything," replied the Golem, pointing to the "Pi" symbol on his forehead, "My creator saw to it that I could never die. That's why he gave me this symbol-because Pi goes on forever."
Donatello had a theory, however-if he turned the "Pi" into an "equals" sign, that would signify the end of the equation-and that might allow the Golem to die. He didn't actually do it, though. But knowing this somehow made the Golem feel a bit better, like he wasn't all that different from everyone else after all.
That was a good comic book.
