The silent salute is used in district 12. They use it to say goodbye to someone they love or known. They use it when Katniss volunteers for Prim at the reaping and they had to give a round of applause instead the people did the silent salute.
The silent salute appears in the novel when Katniss does that when Rue dies.
Page 24, in the 2nd paragraph.
how does the silent salute appear in The Hunger Games
Rebellion from the capitol
a mocking jay, it's on her pin!
Katniss's Best Friend, he was also in love with her.
Uh, what it symbolizes? Hm, the close to what I think of is ... it's the ceremony to announce the tributes (one female and one male) for the hunger games
In the Hunger Games, the silver parachutes are gifts to the tributes from their sponsors. They can contain life saving materials.
In the Hunger Games (the games not the book) parachutes symbolize gifts. If you were a tribute in the Games and were sent a parachute, you would get a gift. In the books however, the parachutes could symbolize many things. But at the end of the series, it would be safe to say that whenever Katniss thinks of the silver parachutes, she will think of her sister Prim (Read book 3 and you will see why).
Katniss was trying to be loyal to Rue and to show people how brutal the games really are.
Each District has a specialty. District 12's specialty is coal mining.
Food is everything in the Hunger Games. Since the tributes need to find their own food, they often go hungry, making it harder for them to survive. So, food symbolizes hope and survival.