The auspicious nature of certain days and numbers are common in all cultures which have numbers, but some take more heed than others.

The ancient Gauls and Celts believed in a whole stream of "lucky" and "unlucky" days and numerology was also followed assiduously by the Hebrews and Babylonians.

Oriental numbers game

Even today the Chinese and Japanese put much stock in certain numbers.

In the Chinese Mandarin alphabet the number four rhymes with the word for "death" and is therefore seen as an extremely inauspicious number. Chinese people will invariably avoid giving money in multiples of four.

Conversely the Cantonese words for seven and nine sound similar to the terms for "success" and "long-lasting".

This may explain why the number seven has been seen as lucky even in the western world.

A Taiwanese embassy spokeswoman says: "Hotels in Taiwan rarely have fourth floors or room 4 and buses also avoid using the number. But as for dates they are not seen as lucky or unlucky."

Criminals are in superstitious as well: the Triads -- the Hong Kong-based mafia -- arrange their hierarchy in terms of numbers.

Death and suffering

But while nine is a lucky number for the Chinese it is considered to be extremely bad by the Japanese because the word for nine (ku) also means suffering.

Similarly the Japanese word for four (shi) also means death and a spokesman for the Japanese Embassy in London says: "People tend to avoid room numbers, car number plates with four or nine in them and some will also steer clear of travelling on those dates."

Many cultures, including Muslims around the world, have shifting calendars which depend on the position of the moon or the stars.

The Sri Lankan New Year dawns on April 14 this year and it is seen as auspicious to light the hearth in Sinhalese homes at 4.37am while looking south and wearing a mix of white and yellow clothes.

The same calendar suggests people leave for work at 6.37am on April 18 looking north wearing light blue.

Seven is sacred

Dr Zaki Badawi, director of The Muslim College, says: "People believe in the number seven being sacred because it is mentioned a number of times in the Koran, for example the Seven Heavens and the Seven Earths."

He says the numbers 33 and 99 also have a special significance for Muslims, the latter because it is the number of names for Allah.

As for auspicious dates there is one main one in the Islamic calendar: the 27th night of Ramadan is known as the Night of Power (Lailat Al Qadr).

And according to Dr Badawi, the Ismaili sect and Baha'is consider the number 19 as sacred.

The 9th of Av

In the Jewish calendar there is a three week period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av -- in July and August of the Christian calendar -- which is a period of mourning and general solemnity.

This dates back to Roman times when the Temple of Jerusalem was sacked by the Roman army after a three-week siege.

Rabbi Aryeh Forta, an expert on Jewish history, says: "The 9th of Av was also the date Jews were expelled from England in 1290 and Spain in 1495 and also saw the opening of the Treblinka death camp in the Second World War."

He said: "Those three weeks are a time of sadness and the mourning becomes intense in the last nine days, culminating in the 9th of Av.

"Jews will not plan any joyful or hopeful occasion, such as a wedding, a party or a bar mitzvah, and music is not played during this time."

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