Tales as old as time, hitched to an oral tradition that preserved cultural stories for generations, will come to life when native storytellers from Hawai'i, Alaska and Massachusetts take the limelight in the Mary Kawena Pukui Performing Arts Festival, tomorrow on the Bishop Museum's Great Lawn.

It's all about the practice of celebrating native cultures through the ancient art of storytelling and dance.

The centerpiece: "Keeping the Fire in Dark Moon Times," a collaborative piece created last year under the Tau Dance Theater banner, laced with ancestral tales, music and dance of the three states. The work particularly honors diverse symbolism of the moon, its cycles and the varying meanings of harvest.

"What better way to learn about the culture and its people than through their stories and songs?" says Noelle Kahanu, Bishop Museum educator, in a press release.

The participating yarn-spinners: Ani Lomaika'i Lipscomb, from the Bishop Museum; Jonathan Perry, from the Peabody Essex Museum; Candida Rose, from the New Bedford ECHO Project, a federally-funded educational and cultural enrichment initiative of Massachusetts; Debra Dommek, from the North Slope Borough in Barrow, Alaska; and Stephen Blanchett, from the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage; plus Hawai'i storytellers Jeff Gere, Makia Malo, Ipolani Vaughan, Hailama Farden, Nyla Fujii-Babb, Janice Terukina and Hina Kahanui.

The extras: Food and native craft booths, hula halau, music performances.

Mary Kawena Pukui, the festival's namesake, was an eminent Hawaiian language expert, songwriter, collector of Hawaiian lore and legends, and celebrated author who was meticulous when she retold and recorded stories.

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.