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Image Credit: Pixabay January 31, 2021 - 7:00 AM For thousands of years, Indigenous Syilx communities have passed down stories of their beliefs of spirits like n’ha-a-itk, the Okanagan Lake’s water spirit or Stronitum, a dimension-hopping forest dweller. But settlers in the 1800s in the Okanagan Valley misunderstood these spirits and the meanings behind their stories, said Sncewips Heritage Museum assistant Coralee Miller. The Ogopogo, known to the Syilx as n’ha-a-itk, is the embodiment of Okanagan Lake, not a giant animal-eating monster, she said. Now the Ogopogo is a symbol of Kelowna, often depicted as a goofy green dragon, of which you can buy stuffed-animal versions in gift shops and see on Kelowna Rockets jerseys.