What is the deal with the number 8?

It seems like this movie revolved aroung the number 8. 1) Santa broke a light that cost 8,000 pesetas to replace. 2) The ship departs at a quater past 8, 3) I count at least three (possibly more) times that the camera catches a glimps of a clock that says 8:05, one time was in a mirror but you can tell it was a reflection of 8:05 'cause the second hand was moving CCW. 4) Also the compitition for the bigges dickhead they say Lino weighs 80 kilos. 5 & 6)And there was a bar scene where they say you can move to the south and earn 80,000 pesetas and also metion that if you have 8 million pesetas you will be broke in 4 years or something like that. And at the end 7) Santa states that the ship is being raffled off and his number is 8. Maybe I will do some exploring on this or it might be a cultural thing I will never catch unless told. Any ideas on the signifigance?
Austin