title: Kanepi Parish
text: # Kanepi Parish
  
  Kanepi Parish (Estonian: Kanepi vald) is a rural municipality of Estonia, in Põlva County. It has a population of 4,662 (as of 1 January 2020) and an area of 524.68 $km^2$ (202.58 sq mi). The administrative centre is Kanepi.
  
  It was created in 2017 with the merger of Valgjärve, Kõlleste, and Kanepi Parish.
  
  ## Settlements
  
  ### Small borough
  
  Kanepi
  
  ### Villages
  
  Abissaare - Aiaste - Erastvere - Hauka - Heisri - Hino - Hurmi - Häätaru - Ihamaru - Jõgehara - Jõksi - Kaagna - Kaagvere - Karaski - Karilatsi - Karste - Koigera - Kooli - Kooraste - Krootuse - Krüüdneri - Lauri - Maaritsa - Magari - Mügra - Närapää - Palutaja - Peetrimõisa - Piigandi - Piigaste - Pikajärve - Pikareinu - Prangli - Puugi - Põlgaste - Rebaste - Saverna - Sirvaste - Sulaoja - Sõreste - Tiido - Tuulemäe - Tõdu - Valgjärve - Varbuse - Veski - Vissi - Voorepalu
  
  ## Religion
  
  Religion in Kanepi Parish (2021)
  
  ## Geography
  
  The lakes Aalupi, Erastvere and Hüüdre are located in Kanepi Parish.
  
  ## 2018 Flag
  
  After the 2017 merger with Valgjärve and Kõlleste Parishes, the Kanepi Parish was looking for the new flag and coat of arms. As Kanep in Estonian means Cannabis in English, then there were also proposed versions of flag and coat of arms with the cannabis leaf in it. To see what is more popular among the people, the municipality published the seven finalist designs on a parish page where people could vote online for their favorite design. A cannabis leaf won the contest with an overwhelming majority of 12,000 votes, which is larger than the parish population of 5,000.
  
  In May 2018, the city council, baffled by the ordeal, chose to vote for themselves if they wanted to officially adopt the proposed flag, with a slim majority of 9-8 voting to adopt the flag. On May 15, 2018, the municipality announced that the cannabis leaf flag will be the official flag of Kanepi, Andrus Seeme (Mayor) said, and on July 13, 2018, the flag was raised outside the Kanepi municipal building.
  
  