 Tajikistan, which is also historically part of the region inhabited by Iranian peoples and therefore continues to have strong cultural and linguistic links to modern-day Iran, also celebrates "Shabe Yalda" beginning of 40-day "chila" (чила) forty days of cold weather.An association with the 40-day "chella" period is also preserved amongst Iranian Azerbaijanis and the people of the Azerbaijan Republic, who call the festival "Çillə Gecəsi چیلله گئجه‌سی" and which likewise refers to the beginning of the first 40 days of winter.In Tabriz, the most populous city in Iranian Azerbaijan, parents send some special foods such as "kofte tabrizi", nuts, special gifts, sweets, and well-arranged fruit baskets to their daughter and her husband.