the candy was happy when it was chosen from the basket.

bas-ket

The noun 'basket' is used as a collective noun for a basket of plums and a basket of cheer.

There is no record either in written history or oral tradition that tells of the Virgin Mary putting anyone in a basket, much less anyone in a basket in a river.

You have probably confused the Virgin Mary with the mother of Moses who, to preserve her child, placed him in a basket and sent him down river that he might not be killed in the population purge decreed by Pharaoh. Moses survived the purge because of this, having been rescued by Pharaoh's own daughter, and grew up to be chosen by God to deliver the Israelites from Egypt.