This coming Sunday, May 11, is Mother’s Day. As the third largest ‘card’ holiday, I have heard humorous claims that Mother’s Day was created by the greeting card companies to boost sales. Mother’s Day as a national holiday was actually the result of the advocacy of Anna Jarvis, a woman who went on to devote decades, use her life’s savings and spend time in jail to campaign against the holiday that she created.

Anna’s mother was dedicated to serving her family and community, especially other mothers. She dreamed that someone would create a day to honor the important contributions of mothers to society. After her passing in 1905, Anna sought to honor her mother’s memory by establishing such a day. She envisioned this being an intimate, personal day not to honor all mothers generally but your mother specifically, hence Mother’s Day and not Mothers’ Day. The first celebration was held in 1908 on May 10, both in her hometown of Grafton, West Virginia, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Anna then resided. She sent 500 white carnations to the Andrew’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton for the celebration and children were to write personal notes to their mothers.

Thanks to Anna’s relentless campaigning, Mother’s Day celebrations began to spread. The day was made into a national holiday in 1914. What initially seemed like a victory quickly turned to heartache for Anna as she watched the intimate holiday she had envisioned quickly succumb to commercialization. Florists increased the price of carnations. Greeting card companies sold pre-printed Mother’s Day cards. Candy companies marketed special Mother’s Day boxes of chocolates.

Anna fought back. She boycotted florists who raised prices, spent her inheritance suing those who profited off the holiday, disrupted a confectioners’ convention in Philadelphia, and in 1925 she was arrested for disturbing the peace at an American War Mothers convention where they were selling carnations as a fundraiser. She fought the rest of her life to return Mother’s Day to a time to honor a mother’s contributions to the home and the sacrifices she makes for her children.

Anna was unsuccessful in her efforts to reclaim Mother’s Day. This year, the United States people are expected to spend over $34 billion on the holiday. Anna is quoted as saying, “A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother — and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment.”

So, in honor of the fiery founder of Mother’s Day, consider investing the time in a simple hand written note to honor your own special mother this year.

Crystal Kelly is a feature writer for Bizarre Bytes with those unusual facts that you only need to know for Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy or to stump your in-laws.