The Salt Line Ceremony is a Colonial military ceremony, typically taking place before the start of a major battle. A line of table salt is placed on the ground between two rows of personnel to be deployed in combat. A passage of scripture is read, and the two rows converge, spreading the salt line with their feet.
Lieutenant Margaret Edmondson conducts this ceremony on Galactica's hangar deck prior to the Battle of New Caprica.
The ceremony ends with an embrace by Galactica and Pegasus crew members, who realize the extreme danger of their mission, knowing that some of them may never return (TRS: "Exodus, Part I").
Notes
- It is a common superstition in many cultures that salt - in lines, circles or thrown over the shoulder - wards off evil spirits. On their website the Morton Salt Company gives an overview of salt's role in religious rituals of purification in real-world Earth history.
- Racetrack uses Aerilon Crystal table salt for the ceremony.