Free Donut Day on Friday

There's Fasnacht Day, and then there's National Donut Day.

Fasnacht Day is a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition around Lent, when special donuts are made on Shrove Tuesday.

Donut Day was originally a fundraiser for the Salvation Army on the first Friday in June for the last 75 years. Any donut will do.

These especially sweet days have two things in common. The first is alternate spellings. Is it Fasnacht, Fastnacht or Faschnacht? Is it donut, or doughnut?

In any case, the more obvious commonality is that it's a time to eat the donuts.

Donut shops across the nation — including those in the Lehigh Valley — will hand out free donuts to customers when they buy a drink, whether it's coffee, iced tea, etc.

(Easton has Dunkin Donuts in what seems like every neighborhood: Downtown, in the West Ward, and the South Side.)

Learn more about National Donut Day on the Dunkin Donuts Facebook and Twitter pages.

The national day itself, always celebrated on the first Friday of June each year, was established in 1938 by the Chicago Salvation Army to honor women who served donuts to soldiers during World War I.