Going down in a glaze of glory.
Hot and fresh and with a hole in the middle to cure the empty feeling that lives in all of us, National Donut Day arrives June 7, 2024.
Donut Day was conceived as a sacred day of observance by the Salvation Army.
In 1938 the Chicago chapter baked up the occasion as a way to honor members who served doughnuts to soldiers during World War I.
Chains like Dunkin’ Donuts, Krispy Kreme and McDonald’s offer free or discounted donuts on this day of days.
History of donuts
The US consumes more than 10 billion donuts per year. Getty ImagesThe history of donuts like most things is muddy, or clotted if you will , with various characters laying claim and a few instances of simultaneous genius rising to the top of the lard boil.
Archeologists routinely find fossilized pieces of prehistoric donuts in the middens of Native American settlements. Dutch immigrants brought their “oily cakes” to American shores and legend states a ship captain inadvertently invented the donut as we know it when he speared a pastry on the spokes of the ship’s wheel so he could steer and eat.
Nourishment and navigation, folks, the antiquated equivalent of ‘hold my beer.’
It may have been a sailor’s circumstance that gored the original donut but it was a Russian immigrant’s invention that led to its proliferation. In 1920, Adolph Levitt’s donuts were such a profound hit, he designed a machine to produce them fast enough to meet demand.
A land of appetites and excess, the US consumes more than 10 billion donuts per year, according to the Simmons National Consumer Survey.
Read on to learn more about the donut that embodies your zodiac sign and in the spirit of gout and all that is good, make sure and read our guide to the junk food that embodies your zodiac sign and the dessert that aligns with your stars.
ARIES (March 21 – April 19)
Mochi donut
Mochi donuts mean war in NYC. ShutterstockA confectionary metaphor for the Aries temperament, mochi donuts are both sweet and unsettlingly akin to a throwing star. Aries is ruled by Mars, planet of conflict, action and litigation.
The mochi donut is an unlikely source of all three; this winter high-end NYC ice cream chain Mochidoki brought charges of trademark infringement against their Upper West Side rival dessert shop Mochi Dolci.
TAURUS (April 20 – May 20)
Boston cream donut
Boston cream pie donuts have a history that includes Taurus Ho Chi Minh. ShutterstockThe Boston cream donut is the Taurus of donuts because it gives zero f—s and is equal parts decadent and uncompromising.
Leave it to a bull to argue to the death and the last crumb that what is very obviously a cake be called a pie.
Taureans are notorious for their appetites, attitudes and endurance, apropos of this, the Boston cream pie was born in Boston’s Omni Parker House, America’s longest continuously operating hotel.
It gets richer. In 1912, fleeing political persecution, Taurus Ho Chi Minh began working at the Omni Parker House as a pastry chef preparing the fabled dessert.
Calories and communism, a Taurus poem.
GEMINI (May 21 – June 20)
Jelly donut
Jelly donuts, like Geminis are two halves of an imperfect whole. ShutterstockGemini is ruled by Mercury, planet of language and exchange. In-kind, the earliest recipe for a jelly donut can be traced to a 16th-century cookbook, “Mastery of the Kitchen,” the first cookbook to be printed on Johannes Gutenberg’s press.
The donut was made by spreading jam between two bread rounds and deep frying the whole glorious, gluttonous wheel in lard.
Two pieces made whole with an inside that leaves a stain? Gemini to the hilt.
CANCER (June 21 – July 22)
Glazed donut
Cancers are glazed, dazed lovers of old things and classic forms. ShutterstockCancers are drawn to the classics; old Hollywood films, vintage bric-a-brac, family heirlooms, and codependent relationship dynamics. Glazed is an adjective oft assigned to them, born of the sweat from the sex they just had with their ex, the dew of ennui they carry and the tears of memory they routinely weep.
LEO (July 23 – August 22)
Munchkins/donut holes
Lion king Ben Affleck gets a daily fix of Dunkin’s. ShutterstockMunchkins are the preferred donut of LeoBen Affleck who stans hard for Dunkin’, reportedly visiting the franchise once a day and lending his hype to their 2023 Super Bowl commercial. Munchkins are an apt choice for lions as Leo is all heart and munchkins are the kind of donuts without a gaping hole inside of them. Bless.
VIRGO (August 23 – September 22)
Potato donut
Potato donuts are junk food masquerading as wellness, a Virgo’s favorite vice. ShutterstockAs an earth sign Virgo is close to the dirt, preferring things unvarnished, untreated, and uncomplicated; people and donuts included. Virgos are ever seeking to improve themselves and the conditions of the world around them.
Enter the mother of all root vegetable confections, the potato donut, made with the starch and salt of the earth they are a lighter alternative to their wheat laden counterparts and align with the Virgo ethos of ‘be better always and in all ways.’
Check out more of The Post’s food astrology content:
LIBRA (September 23 – October 22)
Apple cider donut
Venus, Libra’s ruling planet, is associated with the bounty of the earth and the sweet temptation of the apple. ShutterstockIn the Northern hemisphere Libra season coincides with darkening days, pumpkin spice, ubiquitous Ugg boots, and apple picking, making the cider donut their autumnal equal.
Libra is ruled by Venus, planet of aesthetics, assets, and attraction. Among the fruits associated with the goddess is the ‘tempt me into damnation’ apple. Apropos of this, Libra rules the adrenal glands and one of the myriad health benefits of apples is the alleviation of adrenal fatigue.
SCORPIO (October 23 – November 21)
Chocolate glazed donut
Scorpio = a Cancer with goth frosting. Shutterstock Scorpio and Cancer are a pair of water signs with much in common; heightened intuition, powerful emotionality, deep attachments and deeper resentments.
Apropos of this, Scorpio is the chocolate glazed donut of the zodiac AKA a Cancer with goth frosting.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22 – December 21)
Churro
Churros represent the high and low of Sagittarius. ShutterstockSagittarius represents expansion and ideology, unknown destinations, and long journeys.
The ugly underbelly of that trajectory is colonization and it was colonization, courtesy of Spanish conquistadors that brought churros to the shores of the New World.
The other end of the archers arrow, good time rolling and road traversing can be found in the churro’s modern association with fairgrounds, carnivals, cinnamon and conviviality.
CAPRICORN (December 22 – January 19)
Culler donut
Difficult but worth it = cruller donuts and every Capricorn ever. ShutterstockCruller donuts, from the Dutch meaning “to curl,” are traditionally baked on New Years Eve, in the goat heart of Capricorn season and the crest of a fresh start.
Caps are the punishing sort who love a tome, a task, and the feeling of having earned their hedonism.
Apropos of this, making crullers is historically a labor intensive affair with kids doing the bulk of the shaping and the grown ups getting after the deep frying. Caps and crullers = know the struggle to savor the sweet.
AQUARIUS (January 20 – February 18)
Cronut®
Cronuts have a cult following, the aspiration of all Aquarians. Thomas Schauer/ Courtesy of Dominique Ansel BakeryA beloved hybrid born from the imagination of a dedicated madman, the Cronut® is the Aquarius of donuts.
While the Cronut® itself is technically a Taurus, and its creator, the award-winning French pastry chef Dominique Ansel a star-born Capricorn, his insane multi-day approach to pastries, refusal to sleep more than three hours a night, belief that “time is an ingredient,” and cult-like followers who are willing to ignore a corpse for a taste of his heaven, speak to the uncompromising genius of the water bearer.
PISCES (February 19 – March 20)
Beignet
Tasting like a cloud, beignets are the Pisces of donuts. Shutterstock Pisces is ruled by Neptune, planet of imagination, intuition and psychic phenomena. Natives are noted for the faraway look in their eyes and the tendency to talk about mermaids, pareidolia, ghost ejaculate, and sound baths.
The beignet is the unequivocal Pisces of donuts because it’s a little messy and tastes like a cloud dusted with the sweet, powdered bones of of a thousand doomed romantics.
Astrology 101: Your guide to the stars
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture and personal experience.






