Music and Rites

I feel that often in our society, we take for granted music that is often standard at certain events. For instance, I could probably play "Canon in D" in my sleep on top of a runaway train filled with pitch-generating metronomes all a half step away from each other (what a cacophony!) that is falling into the Ultimate Pit of Darkness- just from playing it at almost every wedding I have ever attended. However, when you haven't listened to it in a while, (unless you're a cellist and hate every minute of it) it's actually quite beautiful.
If you sit and think about the acts that we accompany with music, it's almost every important aspect of our lives. At celebrations of birth ("Happy Birthday" and its variants about smelling like monkeys), ceremonies about death (hymns are often sung/played at funerals), in religious ceremonies/holidays (Communion, weddings, baptisms, Christmas, Easter), at government-declared holidays (Fourth of July), even at holidays that are made up by corporate America (Valentine's Day... where the sappy love songs reign). We have music for the turning points in our lives as well as the ups and downs.
Most of the time, there are specific styles of pieces that are performed at certain functions, but sometimes there are specific pieces for each rite- such as "Happy Birthday." Also, most of the pieces that are played have a legitimate tie to the occasion. "Auld Lang Syne" is appropriate for New Years as "O Holy Night" is appropriate for Christmas. Most people don't know who the composers of these pieces are, considering that they were written before our generations' times.
The styles of music are very different in accordance to each occasion. While celebratory anthems like "Grand Old Flag" are wonderful for Independance Day, more solemn pieces like some of the intense masses meant for the day of Christ's crucifiction commenmorate times of reflection and sorrow.