Chakapas are percussion instruments used by Shamans in the Peruvian Amazon Basin in healing ceremonies with Ayahuasca.[1] The chakapa (Shakapa) is used in tandem with icaros by the Shaman or Curandero in healing ceremonies to control the spiritual experience of his patient. The sound of the chakapa is said to comfort patients in an ayahuasca ceremony and "cleans" the energy surrounding the client. Shaman have a large variety of shakapa movements that create different sounds and energy waves, these movements match the coinciding icaro and healing that is being done at the time.
In an Ayahuasca ceremony the shakapa becomes an extension of the shaman and the icaro, becoming an important tool for directing the energy of the medicine work. In ceremony people talk about seeing green, blue and gold ribbons of light forming around the shakapa and these tendrils moving around the room.[2] The shakapa is also an important cleansing tool used during venteadas and arcanas. In the Amazon, once the shaman catches the bad spirits in a Chakapa, it is then blown out of the leaves into the forest. The spirits are distributed and taken in by all nature such as trees and plants.[3] A shakapa is made by tying together the leaves from the bush in a fashion that forms a fan shaped instrument. (See picture)
The Woodland Cree Indians have a legend about a great hunter named Chakapas. The legend talks about how Chakapas trapped the moon so that it did not shine anymore. Since the brightness of the moon was gone, the Indians had problems with traveling between seasons because they could not see as easily. They begged Chakapas to let the moon go, but Chakapa could not get close enough to the moon to release it. He used the help of mice to set it free. A brave mouse chewed the cords that tied the moon. It left him burned which is the Indians explanation for mice having a light grey belly. The moon was eventually set free and the shadow of Chakapas remains on the moon to this day.[4]