Baptism

The priest soon takes the woman by the hand and baptises her as others
eagerly wait, in the brilliant sunshine, for their turn to enter the river, for you
see only one Soul must enter the river at one time. The woman slowly makes
her way out to the bank to be greeted by a chorus of joyous shouts from the
attending crowd…. Her Soul purified, cleansed and strengthened by baptism;
she waits to receive the sacraments of bread, oil and water.”
http://www.yardna.org/
Both John's baptism and the Qumran washings were connected with
repentance and undoubtedly had their origin in Numbers 19 : 1-22 and similar
passages about purification in the Pentateuch.
Historically therefore John's baptism must have been an out growth of the
Essene Traditions and was probably not by total immersion. It was a
ceremonial washing. It was not considered a conversion process in which the
baptizee was considered a gentile. They were already Jews, who had been in
the covenant through circumcision and needed only repentance or turning
back to God.
Jn 13:14 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands
and my head!" 10 Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed does not need to
wash, except for his feet, but he is clean all over; and you are clean"
Evidently the baptismal mode somehow indicated the death and resurrection
of the messiah.
22