Kanets are a peasant community of
Himachal Pradesh. They occupy Kulu, Mandhi, Suket, Simla Hills, and Sirmur areas. The Kanets are of Rajput descent and mostly they live under the Rajputs.
The men of the community wear a red and black woolen cap, a grey or brown loose woolen tunic with a rope or sash at the waist, a plaid blanket round the chest and over the shoulders. Women wear a plaid blanket fastened around with bodkins. Bunches of flowers adorn the caps, hair, and the neck of both men and women during festival days.
Three types of marriage ceremonies exist among them. They have ceremonies for death also. The Kanets burn the corpse the next day of death. The ashes are either taken to Haridwar or kept till winter and taken to the Ganges. The formal ceremony is performed on the tenth day of death. A goat is sacrificed on the 13th day.
